Say the Names...

Al Purdy wrote a wonderful poem called "Say the names say the names" which celebrates the names of Canadian rivers - Tulameen, Kleena Kleene, Similkameen, Nahanni, Kluane and on and on in a celebratory song.

Enbridge is planning to build a dual pipeline that will carry bitumen and condensate across hundreds of waterways between Edmonton and Kitimat. Some of these waterways are rivers like the Parsnip (or what's left of it), the Nechako, the Morice and others are smaller creeks whose names are often known only to the folks who live along their banks or who fish in their shadows or who bend to wash or drink as they cross paths.

I want to collect the names of these rivers and creeks, to collect your stories, your poems, your songs so we can collectively give voice to the land living under the line Enbridge plans to draw.

People have also sent me copies of their presentations to the community oral presentations. If you'd like to add your voice, email me (sheila.peters900@gmail.com) your stories and I'll post them for you. The copyright remains with you.

All the best.
Sheila Peters

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The salmon are in the rivers

Sheila Peters

The salmon are in the rivers now and still there are more stories of oil pipeline leaks - is it just because I'm thinking about pipelines these days, or are there more happening? (If you want to get really depressed,  you can go to the American Checks and Balances Project to get specifics). As roads washed out yet again in the Peace, I thought about all the stream crossings, and the ones that are salmon-bearing.

On a more positive note, I heard about the work that Neil Ever Osborne, a Toronto member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, has begun. He's flying the proposed route: got to Great Bear Rainforest Tripods in the Sky Project for details and photographs.
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