Paddle for Wild Salmon Update (October 24) – Musqueam to Jericho Beach

Oct 24th, 2010 5:54 AM

Media Advisory The Wild Salmon People muster in English Bay/Jericho Beach Salmon Are Sacred’s ‘Paddle for Wild Salmon’ launches from Musqueam at 11am this morning destined for Jericho Beach in Vancouver (2pm arrival). If the weather is hostile the paddlers will walk from Musqueam down one of the Lost Creeks of Vancouver to False Creek and paddle to Jericho Beach. A ‘Calling Wild Salmon People’ mass gathering will take place in Jericho Beach from 12 Noon to 4pm. The event, organized by False Creek Watershed Society, will include Ceremony, Music, Art, Food, Educational Tables and Family Fun. The flotilla now includes 10 Voyageur canoes from Ridge Wilderness Adventures, a raft from Fraser River Raft Expeditions, dug out canoes skippered by paddlers from Squamish, Homalco and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, kayaks, dragon boats and a 70ft yacht from Bluewater Adventures. The seven-day journey which started by rafting to Hope through Hell’s Gate arrives into Vanier Park at 9am in Vancouver tomorrow (25th) with a march across Burrard Bridge to the opening of the Cohen Commission to support Justice Cohen in his investigation of the truth about our wild salmon. Squamish Nation has donated ‘Calling Wild Salmon People’ billboard advertisements across the City of Vancouver including signs on Burrard Bridge. The Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, is joining the Paddle for Wild Salmon tomorrow along with First Nations chiefs, chef Robert Clark of C Restaurant and fishing leaders including Organic Ocean. Tomorrow (25th) the flotilla will paddle from Jericho Beach leaving at 8.30am into Vanier Park (from 9am) with boats gathering under Burrard Bridge and a welcome ceremony by Squamish Nation. The final leg of the journey will start at 10am with a march from Vanier Park to the opening of the Cohen Commision (701 W. Georgia) and a ‘Justice for Wild Salmon’ rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery (12 Noon start). The Wild Salmon People will call on Justice Cohen to demand full disease disclosure from the Norwegian salmon feedlots on the migration path of the Fraser sockeye. Click here for the October 24th event at Jericho Beach at 12 p.m. For more details about the itinerary and meeting points en-route, visit: http://www.salmonaresacred.org/itinerary-paddle To arrange interviews with Alexandra Morton and the paddlers, please contact: Don Staniford on 250-230-1172 (cell) Alexandra Morton on 250-974-7086 (cell)