Fast to protest Norwegian-owned salmon farms ends

Mark Hume
February 16, 2010
The Globe and Mail

In an attempt to draw attention to a long simmering dispute, environmentalists and the chiefs of several First Nations in British Columbia have held a 29-hour fast that ended Tuesday just as Canada was about to play Norway in men's hockey.

The fast was held at the offices of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, where about a dozen people spent Monday night, watching movies and giving interviews to the media.

I would love to have some popcorn,” said Don Bain, Executive Director of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

He said the symbolic protest was held for 29 hours to represent the 29, mostly Norwegian-owned salmon farms in the traditional territory of coastal Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council.

Norwegian-owned salmon farms operating in our traditional territorial waters are killing wild salmon and strangling the lifeblood of our whole culture,” said Chief Bob Chamberlin, of the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk, a tribe located around Alert Bay and Port McNeill, on northern Vancouver Island.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• St. Louis Post; February 17, 2010; "Environmentalists at Olympics target Norwegian-owned salmon fisheries"
• The Times Colonist; February 13, 2010; "Norwegian-owned fish farms target of chiefs' hunger strike"