
Photo from Chain of Hope Facebook page.
Tomorrow, the Gitga’at First Nation will stretch a 7 kilometre crocheted ‘Chain of Hope’ across the Douglas Channel where massive tankers filled by the 525,000 barrels per day Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline would transport bitumen overseas.
In a powerful interview on CBC Radio’s As It Happens last night, Lynne Hill of the Gitga’at First Nation says, “I don’t believe we could live here if there was a spill, when there is a spill would be more correct to say. Because it would destroy our shores, the land would be unusable, there would be nothing. Humpback whales in particular use this area as a place to practice their songs. And they won’t be here if there is increased tanker traffic and certainly won’t be here when there is a spill.”
She is asked how crocheted wool can stop oil tankers and replies, “Crocheted wool represents who we are. We can’t not stop it. Because if we fail, Canada will fail. This beautiful area will be destroyed. Our way of life will be destroyed. Can you measure the worth of a clam or a whale against selling this dirty oil to somebody else? I don’t believe you can.”
Hill pledges, “We’re going to have boats all the way across our channel. And it’s a show of what we’re prepared to do. On the day when the tankers do really come, if that’s what it comes to, we will be there, again and again. We have to do this. We owe it to the people that have gone before us and we owe it to the people that are going to come after us.”
The Council of Canadians supports this action by the Gitga’at First Nation.
The CBC Radio interview can be heard here. To find out more about the Chain of Hope, please see their Facebook page here.