Review Panel Commission d'examen Public Hearing Audience publique
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Projet du Terminal 2 à Project Roberts Bank
Review Panel Commission d'examen
Ms Jocelyne Beaudet Mme Jocelyne Beaudet Dr. Dave Levy M. Dave Levy Dr. Douw Steyn M. Douw Steyn
Beach Grove Golf Club Beach Grove Golf Club 5946 12 Avenue 5946, 12e avenue Delta, BC Delta (C.-B.)
May 25, 2019 Le 25 mai 2019
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This publication is the Cette publication est un recorded verbatim compte rendu textuel des transcript and, as such, is délibérations et, en tant recorded and transcribed in que tel, est enregistrée et either of the official transcrite dans l’une ou languages, depending on the l’autre des deux langues languages spoken by the officielles, compte tenu de participant at the public la langue utilitisée par le hearing. participant à l’audience publique.
Printed in Canada Imprimé au Canada
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TABLE OF CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES
PAGE
Presentation by 2413 Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Presentation by 2431 Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and the Tulalip Tribes Questions from the Panel 2484
Closing Statement by 2502 Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Presentation by 2504 Lummi Nation Questions from the Panel 2523
Presentation by 2548 Suquamish Tribe Climate Change Strategy Questions from the Panel 2585
Closing Statement by 2603 Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
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1 Delta, B.C. / Delta (C.-B.) 2 --- Upon commencing on Friday, May 24, 2019 3 at 0910 / L'audience débute le vendredi 4 24 mai 2019 à 0910 5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can we have everybody 6 seated and we will start, please.
7 --- Pause 8 --- Drumming prayer 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 10 [Indiscernible - off microphone] It's a song about 11 remembering who we are, remembering where you come 12 from, remembering your elders. That’s why we’re here 13 today, to do these things in our traditional way as we
14 have for thousands of years. 15 We’ve asked a good friend 16 [indiscernible - off microphone] Dalton Silver, Chief 17 of Sumas, to be our speaker here today to introduce 18 the witnesses, to help us put the words that are going
19 to take place here today. I'm going to turn this 20 portion over to [indiscernible - off microphone]. 21 CHIEF SILVER: I want to thank my
22 brother [indiscernible - off microphone] for opening 23 this up in a way that we say brings our ancestors with 24 us today. 25 It’s an honour for me to be here with
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1 our brothers and sisters of the Coast Salish. The way 2 we came in today, this morning, shows we’re one. The 3 concerns we have for the environment. 4 I want to acknowledge my brothers and 5 sisters, the Tulalip, the Swinomish, the Suquamish and 6 the Lummi, many relatives throughout the Coast Salish
7 territory. I'm of Semath and [indiscernible - off 8 microphone] ancestry. 9 We talk about it amongst ourselves and 10 the border that people have come to know. It’s 11 something that we see as a little bit of a barrier 12 between us. But ourselves, like –- like the 13 environment, like the wildlife, like the salmon, like
14 everything, [indiscernible - off microphone] 15 everything. 16 We need to cross to our relatives as 17 freely as those that I've talked about, as freely as 18 the air and water. We talk about how the air and the
19 water and wildlife know no boundaries. Something of 20 concern to all of us. Salish people is who we are. 21 It’s an honour for me to be here today
22 to share a few words. It’s great, I think, that our 23 brothers and sisters are here to share their concerns 24 about a project that we see as being a detriment to 25 that which sustains us.
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1 (Indigenous language spoken) it’s a 2 word my elders remind me of that talks about 3 everything that comes from the water, everything that 4 sustains us. That’s a major concern to all of us. 5 Our people have co-existed with our 6 environment here in the Salish area since time
7 immemorial. We’ve seen the destruction of the 8 environment and, as such, our way of life over the 9 last couple of hundred years. 10 We come together today as Coast Salish 11 people to try and address the concerns. 12 Again, it’s an honour for me to be 13 here, standing with our brothers and sisters
14 [indiscernible - off microphone] the homelands of the 15 Tsawwassen peoples. 16 I have to acknowledge our brothers and 17 sisters of the Tsawwassen, the homelands of whom we 18 stand on today. It’s an honour for us to be here.
19 Our brothers and sisters here have in 20 mind this tradition in honouring. The blanket put on 21 me is symbolic of them asking me to introduce the work
22 that they have to do today with the little bit of work 23 that I do on their behalf, but they have in mind to 24 honour the Panelists as well by blanketing them. 25 It's a tradition amongst our Coast
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1 Salish people to honour you and thank you for being 2 here today to hear the concerns of our people. 3 --- Pause 4 CHIEF SILVER: The honouring song is 5 sung and people can relax now. (Indigenous language 6 spoken)
7 MS. LEKANOT: So on behalf of 8 Swinomish, the Tulalip, Suquamish and Lummi people, on 9 behalf of the Coast Salish Nation, we call upon you to 10 be a witness. 11 --- Blanket Ceremony 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Dalton will 13 share the -– Chief Dalton Silver will share the
14 meaning behind the witness with you. 15 CHIEF SILVER: (Indigenous language 16 spoken) 17 I want to thank the ladies for what 18 they've done this morning. The matter in which you're
19 blanketed is a big honour from the highest honours for 20 our Coast Salish people. The manner in which the 21 blankets are put on yourselves recognizes you as
22 leaders. 23 The significance, the passing of the 24 coin, in times past, we had other things to put in the 25 hands of those witnesses. And as a witness, you're
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1 asked to remember the work that was done today, the 2 words that were passed on today and you can pass those 3 on into the future, on to your people, as to what our 4 people had to say here today. 5 I want to thank you. (Indigenous 6 language spoken)
7 --- Pause 8 CHIEF SILVER: As you see now, the 9 blanketing that's been done and the manner in which I 10 was blanketed is a big honour, asked to do work on 11 behalf of the tribes. 12 The speakers this morning who give 13 testimony for the Tulalip, for the Swinomish doing
14 work for their peoples today as they do daily, 15 tirelessly, I have to say. I've known some of the 16 people for a very long time. (Indigenous language 17 spoken) 18 From the leadership of Tulalip,
19 Vice-Chair Tulalip Tribe will be giving testimony 20 today. 21 Tulalallos [indiscernible - off
22 microphone] -- Tulalip, sorry. 23 The Tulalips, Teri Gobin. Tom 24 Ehrlichman will give testimony for Swinomish. Debra 25 Lekanoff will also be giving testimony on behalf of
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1 the Swinomish Tribe today. That's one of her jobs. I 2 need to recognize that she is one of the State 3 representatives in the House of Representatives of 4 Washington State. Her other job. 5 I want to thank the people here giving 6 testimony, the leaders, Osiem, as we say in Coast
7 Salish, to speak on behalf of the people today. 8 I want to thank also our sister 9 (Indigenous language spoken) for helping with the song 10 today to help to guide us how to carry on the work 11 today. 12 With that, I think I'll step aside and 13 let the work begin.
14 I want to thank you all 15 [indiscernible - off microphone]. 16 --- Pause 17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Good day, and 18 welcome to all. Welcome, Chief Silver and your group.
19 It’s a great honour to have you here and it’s a very 20 great honour to have been chosen to be blanketed like 21 you have just done.
22 I welcome everybody to the 10 th day of 23 sessions of the public hearing regarding environmental 24 assessment of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project 25 proposed by Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
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1 A great welcome to our guests from the 2 Bellingham area of the United States of America, and 3 all the participants that are joining us today. 4 I would like to also acknowledge the 5 indigenous groups within whose territory -– 6 traditional territories we are holding hearing
7 sessions this month and in June. I would also like to 8 thank again the City of Delta for being our host for 9 the past two weeks. 10 Let me introduce myself and my 11 colleagues, Panel members and our secretariat. My 12 name is Jocelyne Beaudet, and I am the Chair for this 13 Panel.
14 On my left is Dr. David Levy and on my 15 right, Dr. Douw Steyn. The secretariat includes Cindy 16 Parker, who is our Panel manager. 17 The analysts with us today are 18 Catherine Bailey-Jourdain, Isabelle Turcotte and
19 Samantha Sabo. Our court reporter is Kristin 20 Johansson, and our audio-visual technicians are from 21 Freeman Company.
22 The staff will be glad to assist you 23 with any problems or questions you may have. 24 The purpose of the hearing is to allow 25 the Panel to receive information from interested
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1 parties and the general public on the potential 2 environmental effects and cumulative effects resulting 3 from the proponent’s proposal to construct a new 4 three-berth container terminal at Roberts Bank and to 5 expand an existing causeway and tug basin. 6 The hearing is also designed to
7 provide opportunities for Vancouver Fraser Port 8 Authority to explain the project and to respond to 9 concerns and questions raised by participants, 10 including federal, provincial, regional, local 11 governments, indigenous groups, non—governmental and 12 civic organizations, and the general public. 13 We are an independent Panel. We are
14 not part of the Government of Canada or the Government 15 of British Columbia, or the Canadian Environmental 16 Assessment Agency. We were appointed by the Federal 17 Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada to 18 conduct an environmental assessment of the proposed
19 project under the Canadian Environmental Assessment 20 Act of 2012. 21 We were given by the Minister specific
22 Terms of Reference that were updated in March 2019 to 23 include marine shipping activities that are incidental 24 to the project as part of the designated project or 25 part of this scope of our analysis.
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1 We are required to provide conclusions 2 on the significance of any adverse environmental 3 effects. We are also required to recommend mitigation 4 measures and follow-up programs for the management of 5 the effects associated with the project in marine 6 shipping activities should the project proceed.
7 We are to include in our report a 8 summary of information received during the review, 9 including information received with respect to whether 10 those significant adverse environmental effects are 11 justified in the circumstances. 12 Following the completion of our 13 assessment, we will prepare our report for the
14 Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. 15 Our role requires us to remain 16 independent and objective, including with respect to 17 all participants who are before us, and the proponent. 18 As a result, we will not engage in private discussions
19 or any matter with anyone involved in these 20 proceedings outside ourselves and the secretariat. We 21 will try to strike a balance between formality and
22 expediency while still being fair to all parties. The 23 Panel will also provide a flexible approach to 24 communities as appropriate for the circumstances of 25 each community.
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1 All documents filed in this proceeding 2 must be placed on the public record unless it is 3 ordered otherwise by the Panel as a result of a 4 request for confidentiality. 5 Transcripts of our proceedings are 6 being produced by a court reporter and, for that
7 reason, it is essential that participants use the 8 microphone when speaking. Transcripts of testimony 9 will generally be available on the registry the next 10 day. 11 When you do come forward to speak, we 12 ask that you identify yourself so your name is on the 13 record, and spell your last name for the court
14 reporter, please. 15 If many are at the presenting table at 16 the same time, there is a need to identify yourself 17 each time you speak. I remind you to direct questions 18 or comments to me as the Panel Chair and I will then
19 direct them to the appropriate person or group for a 20 response. 21 The hearing sessions are being video
22 webcast and can be accessed through the web site of 23 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. 24 As a courtesy to everyone, I would ask 25 you to turn off the ringer of your cell. In case of
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1 an emergency, you are asked to leave the building 2 immediately through our closest exit, and so you 3 should identify it now. And the muster station in 4 case of an evacuation of the building is in the 5 parking lot of the club. If you have any cause for 6 concern, please advise immediately a member of the
7 secretariat. 8 We have been privileged today to be 9 blanketed and I would ask if the proponent or anyone 10 in the room has any concern about the Panel accepting 11 these gifts. 12 MR. STEWART: Madam Chair, Cliff 13 Stewart for the Port Authority. We have absolutely no
14 concern with that. 15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Would anybody in the 16 room have any objection? 17 Thank you very much. And we will keep 18 these blankets as a very precious object.
19 So I would ask now the Vancouver 20 Fraser Port Authority to do their presentation. 21 PRESENTATION
22 MR. STEWART: Cliff Stewart for the 23 Port Authority. Madam Chair, it’s been suggested that 24 I should speak from here so as not to turn my back on 25 our guests today.
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1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes, of course. Go 2 ahead. 3 MR. STEWART: Thank you. 4 Before we get started, I wanted to 5 acknowledge that we meet today on the traditional 6 territory of the Tsawwassen First Nation. And
7 further, I would like to say thank you to the guests 8 from the Bellingham area for coming and providing us 9 the opportunity to share information and for us to 10 hear from them, and to note that this is their 11 Memorial Day weekend that they've given up time on. 12 As I mentioned, my name is Cliff 13 Stewart, and I am the Vice-President of Infrastructure
14 for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. I have been 15 working on this project and its former iterations for 16 over a decade. 17 Because this project is one of the 18 largest the Port Authority has ever undertaken, we
19 want to make sure that we do it right. This means 20 acting on our vision of being the world’s most 21 sustainable Port, ensuring we deliver a project that
22 brings prosperity through trade, maintains a healthy 23 environment, and enables thriving communities. 24 Moving to slide 2. Today, we will 25 provide you with an overview of who we are, share
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1 information on container trade and forecasts, and 2 provide information about the project, including the 3 environmental assessment, areas of interest and a 4 summary of our mitigation measures. 5 Slide 3. To set the context for why 6 the Port Authority is proposing the Roberts Bank
7 Terminal 2 Project, we thought it important to first 8 start with the role of the Port Authority under the 9 Canada Marine Act as well as our role in terminal 10 development. 11 The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is 12 the federal body that is responsible for the 13 stewardship of the Port of Vancouver, which is
14 Canada’s largest port. We work for the benefit of all 15 Canadians and we're accountable to the federal 16 Minister of Transportation. 17 We’re mandated to enable Canada’s 18 trade, and we do that by leasing out federal lands to
19 terminal operators who handle the cargo being traded 20 through the Port. We do not decide what Canada 21 trades.
22 We’re also responsible for overseeing 23 Port development as Canada’s trade grows. And we do 24 that both by building infrastructure and by reviewing 25 and permitting development projects in the Port such
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1 as terminal expansions. 2 We are mandated to protect the 3 environment and consider local communities so we run a 4 suite of environmental programs and we work closely 5 with local communities and indigenous groups to 6 minimize any impacts of Port activity.
7 Our revenues come from tenant rents 8 and Port user fees. We don’t receive tax dollars to 9 support our operations, unlike many ports worldwide, 10 and we’re required to be commercially viable. 11 Canada port authorities don’t operate 12 terminals. Instead, we lease land to terminal 13 operators who operate the terminals independently.
14 Where there are opportunities to improve capacity by 15 using them more effectively, the Port Authority will 16 often partner with the operator to help the operator 17 expand or reconfigure its facilities. 18 Port authorities also take on the role
19 of creating the land for new terminals when it’s 20 required and the new land then becomes part of the 21 federal asset that is Port land.
22 Once the land is created, it is leased 23 to a terminal operator who is responsible for building 24 the terminal structures, all the equipment, and 25 operating the terminal. This is the same process that
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1 is proposed for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. 2 Slide 4. I want to provide more 3 information on the jurisdiction of the Vancouver 4 Fraser Port Authority. 5 Looking at this map, the darker 6 turquoise mostly to the left of the map up the Fraser
7 River and in English Bay is our navigational 8 jurisdiction. The red lines show the shoreline that 9 we oversee, and the land. 10 The Port of Vancouver borders 16 11 municipalities and also intersects the asserted and 12 established traditional territories and treaty lands 13 of several Coast Salish First Nations.
14 We operate within a very complex 15 environment, with many organizations in the Port 16 ecosystem and where Port activity touches a large 17 number of local communities. 18 Slide 5. As part of ensuring that we
19 are able to accommodate Canada’s trade objectives, we 20 have commissioned a series of independent expert third 21 party container traffic forecasts.
22 Our latest forecast undertaken in 2016 23 by Ocean Shipping Consultants predicts sustained 24 growth in container traffic through the west coast of 25 Canada to 2040 and beyond. The three blue lines
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1 represent the low, base and high case growth scenarios 2 presented by OSC. 3 The Port Authority has been working to 4 deliver additional capacity when it is expected to be 5 required over many years. As you’ll see here, the 6 Port Authority and our counterparts at the Prince
7 Rupert Port Authority have developed and are 8 developing a number of projects. 9 These aren’t low-hanging fruit 10 projects. This is every terminal operator squeezing 11 everything they can out of their operations and 12 expanding each existing terminal as much as they are 13 able.
14 Even with these improvements, however, 15 Canada will run out of capacity for containers on the 16 west coast by the mid-2020s. 17 Slide 6. In order to address this 18 growing trade, we are proposing the Roberts Bank
19 Terminal 2 Project. 20 The project includes three main 21 components, a marine terminal, a marine container
22 terminal built on reclaimed land and located in deep 23 subtidal water shown at the lower left of the graphic, 24 a widened causeway to accommodate additional road and 25 rail infrastructure and to link to the existing rail
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1 and highway networks, and an expanded tug basin to 2 accommodate the tugboats needed to safely and 3 efficiently assist in the arrival and departure of 4 ships calling at Roberts Bank. 5 The marine terminal would be located 6 five and a half kilometres -- that’s about three, a
7 little over three miles -- away from the mainland end 8 of the causeway, further away from shore than existing 9 terminals and almost entirely in subtidal waters. 10 This is one of the most important environmental and 11 socio community mitigations we have proposed for this 12 project. 13 The location of the terminal in deeper
14 waters avoids effects on sensitive intertidal habitat. 15 It reduces the amount of dredging required to permit 16 access for ships to reach the berths at the terminal, 17 and it moves the potential effects of noise and light 18 further away from communities.
19 Slide 7. In September 2013, the Port 20 Authority submitted the project description to the 21 Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. In January
22 of 2014, the Minister issued draft Environmental 23 Impact Statement Guidelines, or EIS Guidelines. 24 In March of 2015, the Port Authority 25 submitted the Environmental Impact Statement for the
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1 project to the Canadian Environmental Assessment 2 Agency. The EIS summarizes the results of four years 3 of work, including 77 environmental studies, over 4 35,000 hours of field work, contributions from 5 indigenous groups, regulators, more than 100 6 professional scientists and members of the public.
7 As directed by the Canadian 8 Environmental Assessment Agency, we have consulted 9 with 46 indigenous groups in relation to the project 10 and marine shipping associated with the project. 11 Since the submission of the EIS, we have continued to 12 collaborate with indigenous groups to undertake 13 additional studies such as salinity and biofilm
14 testing, further shellfish analysis, and to continue 15 refining mitigation proposals in response to ongoing 16 feedback and Review Panel questions. 17 The updates and additional commitments 18 have been shared in a table of commitments submitted
19 on April 30th, 2019. 20 Now moving on to slide 8. Marine 21 shipping associated with the project has been
22 considered as part of the environmental assessment 23 since 2015, and will be considered as part of the 24 Minister of Environment and Climate Change’s decision 25 on the project. Marine shipping associated with the
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1 project is not expected to result in significant 2 adverse residual effects to the valued components 3 assessed. Additionally, no significant adverse 4 cumulative effects are anticipated to valued 5 components. 6 Due to their endangered status and
7 current lack of recovery of population, southern 8 resident killer whales were assumed to be already 9 significantly adversely affected, due to past 10 activities. The current regional initiatives are in 11 place to help support the recovery of the species. 12 In 2018, Mercator International 13 provided an updated forecast of container ship
14 traffic, travelling through the Salish Sea and serving 15 the Port of Vancouver up until 2035. The Mercator 16 study indicates that there will, in fact, be a 17 decrease in the number of container ship transit in 18 the marine shipping area shown here in the Salish Sea,
19 in the future, with or without the Roberts Bank 20 Terminal 2 Project. This is compared to the number of 21 vessels calling at the Port of Vancouver terminals in
22 2017. 23 The previously assumed annual increase 24 of 260 additional vessels associated with the project 25 is no longer envisioned. Mercator indicated that
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1 there will be no increase in container traffic in the 2 Salish Sea in the future, with or without the project. 3 And that the trend is towards slightly larger vessels. 4 The effects assessment conclusions are not expected to 5 change as a result of the decrease in vessel calls and 6 the trend towards larger vessels.
7 Slide 9. As mentioned earlier, the 8 Port Authority has engaged with Indigenous groups on 9 the project since 2011. Prior to the submission of 10 the project description. The Canadian Environmental 11 Assessment Agency outlines which Indigenous groups 12 must be consulted for the project. The duty to 13 consult rests with Government of Canada, which relies
14 on the review panel process, established under the 15 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, to gather 16 information from Indigenous groups about potential 17 environmental effects of the project, including 18 information about their rights under section 35 of the
19 Constitution Act of 1982 in order to fulfil the 20 government’s duty to consult. 21 Slide 10. We have captured specific
22 interests by group and have highlighted key themes 23 heard across our consultation on the slide. In many 24 areas, we were able to take input received and make 25 adjustments to the project and the assessment for the
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1 project. For instance, we heard from Indigenous 2 groups that the intermediate transfer pit was an area 3 of concern as it could impact crab and harvesting 4 activities. 5 The Port Authority heard this concern, 6 under took additional work, and removed the
7 intermediate transfer pit from the construction 8 sequence for land development. As a result, potential 9 effects to crab and crab harvesting would be reduced. 10 Slide 11. I would like to spend a 11 few minutes talking about key species that the U.S. 12 groups have indicated are of significant interest, 13 beginning with the southern resident killer whale. We
14 recognize that the southern resident killer whale is 15 endangered and has been affected by past activities, 16 such as live capture for aquariums, hunting, 17 contaminants in the water and reduced foraging 18 opportunities.
19 Due to their endangered status and 20 the current lack of recovery of the population, 21 southern resident killer whales are assumed to already
22 be significantly adversely affected. With mitigation, 23 the project is not anticipated to result in 24 significant adverse effects to marine mammals, 25 including southern resident killer whales. Project
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1 would not limit the survival or population recovery of 2 southern resident killer whales, nor would it 3 adversely affect the features of critical habitat 4 needed for their life functions. 5 Specific examples of proposed 6 mitigation measures for the project, include
7 construction environmental management plans, including 8 an underwater noise management plan and a marine 9 mammal management plan, as well as awareness and 10 education measures during progress operation, which 11 would including distributing information regarding 12 marine mammals in the Roberts Bank area to marine 13 pilots and tug operators, working within Port
14 Authority jurisdiction. 15 Separate from the project, last 16 week, the Port Authority and marine transportation 17 industry partners, entered into a Species At Risk Act, 18 conservation agreement, with the Government of Canada
19 through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and 20 Transport Canada, to support ongoing recovery efforts 21 for the southern resident killer whale population.
22 This includes formalizing the 23 participation of all parties in the Port Authority led 24 enhancing cetacean habitat and observation or ECHO 25 Program. Which is aimed at better understanding and
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1 reducing the impacts of marine shipping on at-risk 2 whales in the region. 3 Slide 12. We further understand 4 that marine fish and in particular, Chinook and chum 5 salmon, are important to U.S. tribes. The assessment 6 for marine fish concluded that, with mitigation,
7 residual adverse effects on the productivity of marine 8 fish will not be significant. We are confident in 9 our assessment conclusion as it accounts for 10 mitigation measures that we know to be effective. For 11 example, placing the terminal in subtidal waters, 12 largely eliminates direct footprint effects on 13 sensitive intertidal habitats such as eelgrass, which
14 are important for many marine fish species including 15 herring and salmon. We are submitted to creating 16 onsite offsetting habitats, such as eelgrass and 17 intertidal marsh which will benefit herring and salmon 18 by providing additional food sources, refuge from
19 predators and for the herring, surfaces for depositing 20 eggs. 21 Building on consultation to date, we
22 are also committed to pursuing additional offsetting 23 opportunities, including at offsite locations, with a 24 clear focus on priorities species including, in 25 particular, chum and Chinook.
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1 Moving forward we are ere committing 2 to monitoring the effectiveness of created habitats 3 and enhancing marine fish productivity at Roberts 4 Bank. We are also pursuing a follow up program to 5 monitor juvenile salmon distribution and density, in 6 collaboration with Indigenous groups and organizations
7 that have been studying salmon in the estuary. 8 Lastly, we continue to explore 9 opportunities to engage in regional initiatives that 10 will inform effective management of the populations of 11 adult Chinook, given their cultural, ecological and 12 commercial importance and their contribution to the 13 diet of southern resident killer whales.
14 Slide 13. As part of the 15 environmental assessment, the Port Authority was asked 16 to look at potential environmental effects of the 17 project, which include a change that may be caused to 18 the environment that would occur outside of Canada.
19 The result of our assessment is that the project and 20 marine shipping associated with the project is not 21 expected to have any adverse residual effects after
22 the implementation of mitigation measures. 23 In 2014, the Port Authority engaged 24 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by 25 providing links to the project website and also
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1 discussed with the Washington State Department of 2 Ecology, and offered to provide additional information 3 about the project if requested. 4 Our assessment looked at the possible 5 trans-boundary effects on physical, biological, and 6 socioeconomic components that could result from the
7 project and marine shipping related to the project. 8 Slide 14. The review panel requested 9 that the Port Authority compile the mitigation and 10 follow up program measures for each environmental 11 component affected by the proposed project, and marine 12 shipping associated with the project. Also known as 13 the table of commitments.
14 The Port Authority took the 15 opportunity to collate the most current mitigation and 16 follow up program measures based on the environmental 17 impact statement, presented in information requests 18 and discussed with Indigenous groups.
19 At this time these mitigation measures 20 supersede all other commitments. 21 I would like to provide another
22 example of how Indigenous input has shaped our 23 commitments. In consultation with the Indigenous 24 groups at the Indigenous Advisory Forum, we heard 25 concerns about handling crabs during the salvage
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1 process. As well as on baiting crabs towards the 2 project activities rather than baiting them away. 3 In response to this we have agreed to 4 bait crabs away from project construction areas rather 5 than employing traps and using scuba within the 6 construction footprint. As originally proposed.
7 Slide 15. Separate from the project, 8 one of our best-known environmental programs, the ECHO 9 Program, which I mentioned earlier, is a world-leading 10 collaborative research initiative aimed at better 11 understanding and managing the cumulative effects of 12 shipping activities on at-risk whales throughout the 13 southern coast of British Columbia, and indeed in
14 Washington State. 15 Under water noise related to marine 16 traffic is a priority focus area based on the effects 17 to species at risk, in particular, the southern 18 resident killer whale. The program also supports
19 other projects related to reducing physical 20 disturbances and environmental contaminants for whales 21 in the region.
22 In 2017, the ECHO program led a 23 voluntary slow down trial in Haro Strait which shows 24 when ships slowed down, under water noise levels 25 related to the ships was reduced. Informed by the
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1 results of the 2017 slow down, the program supported 2 an industry-led voluntary vessel slow-down in the 3 summer of 2018 when the whales returned to the Haro 4 Strait area to feed. Results from the 2018 5 initiatives are currently being analysed and are 6 expected to be completed later in the spring of 2019.
7 Additionally, we are extremely proud 8 of the global recognition this program has received. 9 We won the Lloyds List environmental award in 2018 and 10 presented to the United Nations regarding Oceans and 11 the Law of the Sea, for a session looking at 12 human-caused under water noise in June of 2018. 13 Slide 16. Throughout the project life
14 cycle, we are committed to continuing to work with 15 Indigenous groups, regulators and stakeholders to 16 create a better project. This includes opportunities 17 to collaborate on mitigation and monitoring measures, 18 environmental management plans, offsetting and the
19 follow-up program. This concludes our presentation 20 today. 21 I would now like to take a moment to
22 introduce the panel of experts who will assist in 23 answering questions. To my right is Mrs. Erin Harlos, 24 our manager of socioeconomics and indigenous 25 engagement, to her right, is Mr. Sean McNulty manager
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1 environment, infrastructure sustainability. And 2 beside Mr. McNulty is Ms. Pamela O’Hara an environment 3 and management specialist and registered professional 4 biologist affiliated with Hemmera. The other experts 5 behind us will provide support as required, and if 6 they are required to speak well introduce them at that
7 time. We are now ready to respond to your questions. 8 Thank you. 9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. 10 Stewart. Chief Dalton Silver with your permission I 11 would like to ask members of the group that are going 12 to do a presentation this morning, the Swinomish 13 Indian Tribal Community and the Tulalip tribes, if you
14 would please come to the table. 15 THE CHAIRPERSON: So good morning 16 again and welcome. If you would please introduce 17 yourselves, spelling your last name for the 18 transcript, and also, when you speak, you have to
19 speak in the microphone, otherwise we will lose what 20 you have to tell us to date. It’s very important that 21 the transcript gets everything you say.
22 MS. GOBIN: Teri Gobin, G-o-b-i-n. 23 MR. GOBIN: Glen Gobin, G-o-b-i-n. 24 MS. LEKANOFF: Debra Lekanoff, 25 L-e-k-a-n-o-f-f.
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1 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Tom Ehrlichman and 2 the court reporter has my card for the spelling and I 3 have other cards here. 4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Would you repeat 5 your name again please. 6 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Tom Ehrlichman.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Before 8 you start your presentation, would you have any 9 questions to the proponent on the presentation that 10 they just did? 11 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Tom Erlichman for 12 Swinomish. I do have some questions, but I would like 13 to refer those for my presentation, if I may.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: That’s fine. 15 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Thank you. 16 MS. LEKANOFF: I will have one 17 question but I also will wait until I speak. Thank 18 you.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Any 20 participants from the hall would have questions? 21 Thank you. So please go ahead when you are ready.
22 PRESENTATION 23 CHAIR GOBIN: Teri Gobin, G-o-b-i-n. 24 I want to thank you all for hearing us here today, the 25 honourable Panel.
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1 To introduce myself, my native name is 2 (indigenous language spoken). I’m a descendant of the 3 Swinomish, Snoqualmie, Chehalem, Stokolachup(ph), 4 Skagit and Burl(ph) tribes. I’m a Tulalip tribal 5 member. And I was recently voted as the chairwoman of 6 the Tulalip tribes. I have worked for my tribe for 31
7 years, most of those in economic development and jobs 8 for our people. 9 My parents are Cohalixa(ph) and 10 Chehalem. Stan and Joanne Jones. My father served on 11 council for 44 years. Twenty-seven of those is the 12 chair of our tribe. My father has fought the fight 13 for our Treaty rights and our inherent sovereign
14 authority for all of his career, and now we are 15 picking up that charge to protect our rights for our 16 tribe. 17 We are the fishing people, that’s what 18 we consider ourselves. We are fishing people. This
19 is how we have survived since time immemorial. When I 20 was 2 days old I was in a basket on the beach, while 21 they [indiscernible]. This is our lives. Being on
22 the water, being with the salmon, how we revered the 23 qal̕qaləx̌ič, which people call the killer whale, the 24 orca or the black fish. It’s a qal̕qaləx̌ič to us. We 25 spent several summers of my youth actually camping and
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1 living on the beach while we harvested the salmon. 2 When I fished with my father, from 3 when I was young, gill netting, we did beach seining, 4 set netting and at 16 I bought my first commercial 5 fishing boat. And at that time I started fishing in 6 the San Juans right up to Point Roberts.
7 And that’s when fishing was really 8 good. And fishing is as important to us as the air we 9 breathe. It’s been our existence since forever. 10 We get excited when we have the first 11 salmon that comes into our waters or any one of our 12 first catches. We have a salmon ceremony that we do 13 where we honour that first salmon. We share it with
14 the community. We thank it for giving its life to 15 feed our people. And it’s something that’s been 16 practised since, you know, our existence. But, our 17 fish is your fish and they don't know any boundaries. 18 Now it’s getting so that with the runs
19 going down, fish are like gold to us, it’s revered so 20 highly in our communities, that people get excited on 21 who has the first fish and want to come over and
22 share. It means so much to us. 23 We are Treaty tribes and our U&A 24 includes the area of the San Juans, Point Roberts, the 25 strait of Juan de Fuca, the impact of increased
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1 traffic vessel runs right through these areas. It’s 2 very concerning. The amount of increased traffic -- 3 or maybe -- you say it’s not increased but it’s bigger 4 ships, that could impact us through the time that 5 we’re fishing, through what it could do to our nets. 6 We have been there when those ships
7 went by, so close, or we have even had people pulled 8 behind ships because they hit their nets. 9 We have been making every effort to 10 improve the spawning habitat and water quality for the 11 salmon. I also want to talk about the qal̕qaləx̌ič, the 12 orca, the killer whale, black fish, whatever you call 13 it. We consider them our brothers of the sea. If you
14 see the picture on the monitor, that was an orca 15 whale, Luna, who came up in between two of our canoes 16 as they were singing and drumming and came up. Every 17 time they drummed, the qal̕qaləx̌ič would come to the 18 canoes and he put his head up in between them as they
19 touched the head of the whale there. 20 They have been our brothers. Through 21 all of our stories and our history where our people
22 were hungry, and actually, to the point of almost 23 starving. The whales came and threw seal carcasses up 24 on the beach. Our people harvested them. And then 25 they also have drove the fish into the shore and which
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1 supplied food for our whole community, for the winter. 2 So we have this very respect and connection with the 3 qal̕qaləx̌ič. 4 So we as tribes try to preserve and 5 prepare for the next seven generations so they will be 6 able to fish, hunt and gather. If we do not take a
7 stand and try to protect the resources they will be 8 gone for our descendants. They will not be able to 9 enjoy our cultural provisions that we have been 10 accustomed since our existence. I plead with you to 11 consider in your heart and your minds to help preserve 12 the existence of the qal̕qaləx̌ič along with the salmon, 13 and the Indigenous people.
14 And I know my colleagues will get in a 15 little bit more on what the effects can be with 16 increased vessel traffic, but if we don’t do anything 17 to help the salmon and the qal̕qaləx̌ič now they will be 18 gone and it’s in our hands to help keep them, to
19 preserve them for future generations. With that, I 20 would like to turn this over to Glen Gobin. 21 MR. GOBIN: (Speaking native
22 language). 23 Madam Chair and Panelists my name is 24 (indigenous language spoken), Glen Gobin. I serve as 25 the vice-chair for the Tulalip tribes. We come here
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1 as representatives of the people that live at 2 Tullulah, the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skokomish, and 3 other allied bands all placed there as a result of the 4 Treaty of 1855 known as the Point Elliott Treaty. We 5 stand here today to represent those people, not just 6 of today, but the future generations as well.
7 You may wonder why we come in with a 8 ceremony, in such a manner here. But it’s who we are. 9 That’s our culture. It’s our teachings that we’ve had 10 through thousands of years, to come in, to do the work 11 in this way, to call a speaker, so that the people 12 going to do the work, can focus on what needs to be 13 done and not the minor details of how things are to
14 go. Recognize the homelands that we’re in of the 15 Tsawwassen people. 16 But we also recognize that we have 17 been coming to this area for thousands of years. All 18 of our history is recorded through oral teaching.
19 It’s not written down. It’s passed on from generation 20 to generation. The songs that we sing, our personal 21 property, and if that belongs to someone and they
22 didn’t give you permission it use it, it goes away, 23 never to return again. It goes to the other side. 24 And unless we’re given permission, we 25 can continue on to use the songs as we go forward.
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1 Always remembering where they come from though. And 2 it’s not written anywhere. It’s done by oral 3 tradition of passing that down. Our elders have told 4 us of their elders, their ancestors, coming to this 5 region since time immemorial, the harvest, in this 6 area, not just our people, but numerous coast Salish
7 people. Because the Fraser River is in the heart of 8 the Salish Sea. 9 At that time there was no border. We 10 knew each other, we respected each other, we took what 11 we needed and we went home. Today we come and we 12 harvest and the opportunities get less and less. The 13 impacts of increased vessel traffic, which I find hard
14 to believe, that it’s now going to diminish because 15 we’re going to use larger ships. 16 There will always be continued growth. 17 And Madam Chair, I want to thank you for saying 18 something that I had not heard before. That you are
19 here to understand the cumulative effects. In 20 previous panels that was not an option. They were 21 looked at as single sourced projects with single
22 impacts. But yet, the surrounding people that use 23 these waters and harvest these waters are impacted 24 each and every time one of these projects is 25 developed. And our ability to exercise a Treaty
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1 reserved right to continue to fish, hunt and gather in 2 all of our usual and accustomed areas. 3 One might think that is a U.S. Treaty 4 with the States, doesn’t apply up in Canada. But yet, 5 there is a recognition between both governments of the 6 role that tribes in Washington State play. They serve
7 on the Pacific Salmon Commission, regulating the 8 fisheries that take place off the West Coast, and in 9 particular, we have leadership that sits on the Fraser 10 panel. Why is that? Because they know it’s a shared 11 resource. 12 And if it’s a shared resource it’s a 13 shared impact as well.
14 The waters know no boundary. The fish 15 know no boundary. The crabs know no boundary. The 16 impacts know no boundary. The vessel traffic coming 17 in and out, although it may be cargo ships, they are 18 still 4 million-gallons of petroleum product driving
19 these ships, 3.5 million of bunker oil, another 4 20 hundred and some thousand of diesel fuel. It’s a huge 21 number.
22 Travelling through Haro Straits, some 23 of the narrowest most treacherous area to travel, with 24 this large of ships and the increased vessel traffic 25 that is growing continually or being proposed to grow,
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1 the risk only grows. And to hear a report says there 2 is little to no impact that’s going to take place. I 3 find that hard to fathom. But we can all find the 4 scientist to portray what needs to be done. Yet we 5 can look around us and we can see the impacts that are 6 taking place daily. What’s happening to our
7 environment? What’s at risk for our people? Our way 8 of life? The way we practice for thousands of years. 9 Our chairwoman talked about our first 10 salmon ceremony, honouring, respecting those things 11 that come from nature. Returning his remains back to 12 the water in a ceremonial manner and a respectful 13 manner.
14 The killer whale, it’s the emblem of 15 our tribe, but yet we are known as the salmon people. 16 It’s because of that story she tells, of a time when 17 our people were starving. The seals had come in and 18 were devouring all the fish. Our people had nothing
19 to eat. And the killer whale heard our cries. Came 20 in, took care of the seals, and then went back out and 21 drove the salmon back in so our people could eat.
22 We honour and respect these stories 23 because they have truth behind them, not because it’s 24 written down somewhere, it’s because our elders have 25 passed that down to us. Generation after generation.
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1 No different than the work that we did here today, to 2 do that work, those teachings were passed down, 3 generation after generation. 4 It’s hard for those that may not 5 understand what it means to have a way of life, the 6 way that coast Salish people do. The connection to
7 the water, that tie to the water, that drive to be on 8 the water. But it was always taught to respect it and 9 the bounty and it would provide. Because if you take 10 care of it, it will take care of you. Today we are 11 faced with less and less opportunity to do that. The 12 next generations coming up, we are at risk of losing 13 the connection because of the loss of time on the
14 water, the loss of opportunity. The ships that is go 15 in and out when we fish in the area where this 16 proposal is, travel directly across prime fishing 17 grounds, in what we call the apex of the border that 18 comes out there.
19 Now, down to not fishing days any more 20 but fishing hours. To have to pick your net for a 21 ship to go by or a tug to go by to greet a ship only
22 to turn around and to come back in and manoeuvre in 23 these waters, it only displaces us from prime fishing 24 areas. When we only have hours in the first place. 25 There is no extension of time for the ships that goes
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1 by. Or you go and fish in less productive areas, 2 only driving up the cost. Your expenses still remain 3 the same. 4 We stand here today because we care. 5 It matters to us what happens in the Salish Sea. We 6 can’t no longer continue to ignore what’s happening
7 around us. If we truly want something for our next 8 generations, if we truly want the next generations to 9 feel what we feel as we’ve grown up, there has to be 10 something there. There has to be a way to address 11 preserving what the Creator has given us. Not by 12 abusing it but preserving it. 13 The time has come when we need to face
14 reality of the changes that are coming forward. 15 So I thank you for taking the time to 16 listen to our words, to listen to what’s in our 17 hearts, of how important this is to us. We all had 18 places we could be today. We could be with our
19 families, enjoying time together, maybe going to the 20 beach. But, if there is nothing left, they may be the 21 last generation to do that. It may start the
22 ultimate decline of our culture, which has been here 23 for thousands of years, and the respect for what 24 nature has given us. We hope that you hear our 25 concerns. And truly understand what those cumulative
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1 impacts mean with the increased vessel traffic, the 2 increased risk that takes place and the increased risk 3 to our culture, to our way of life, that our elders 4 have preserved through thousands of years to continue 5 in a way that we do today yet. So I thank you for 6 this opportunity to share our concerns here. And I
7 may have some further questions. 8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Mr. Gobin. 9 MS. LEKANOFF: Good morning. Good 10 morning. My name is Debra Lekanoff. I am Tlingit, I 11 am Aleut from Alaska. I have worked for the Coast 12 Salish people for half of my lifetime. My Tlingit 13 name is (indigenous language spoken). It comes back
14 from a time of ten thousand of years of knowing. 15 (indigenous language spoken) goes back to those little 16 baby frogs that is live in the instream flow of a 17 healthy habitat where your baby salmon live. 18 Once the instream flow is gone, once
19 these little baby frogs have a healthy habitat and the 20 healthy clean and clear cold water is gone, the very 21 spirit of who I am is gone. This has been a name that
22 has been passed down in my Tlingit culture from 23 grandmother to grandmother to grandmother to 24 grandmother. Without this name I become, and my 25 culture becomes a shell who I am and where I come
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1 from. 2 Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. As my 3 colleague says, you talked about the cumulative 4 effect. The cumulative effect of the loss of our 5 habitat, the loss of our resources, the loss of our 6 salmon, stretches from the waters of Alaska through
7 the waters of Canada, through the waters of Washington 8 down through the Oregon coast. It impacts the Alaska 9 natives, the First Nations, not the indigenous groups, 10 the First Nations. The Washington Treaty tribes, the 11 20 tribes. The work you do here today touches all of 12 us from our names, our features, our healthy habitats, 13 our culture, our songs.
14 I’m here today representing the 15 Swinomish tribal community. My sole purpose here is 16 to represent the voices of those people who have 17 called the Skagit Valley their home since time 18 immemorial. Who use the usual custom fishing areas
19 that is given their inherent right. Swinomish tribe 20 joins the 20 Treaty tribes of Washington. They’ve 21 joined Coast Salish Nation of the 44 British Columbia
22 First Nations, B.C. First Nations to the north. We as 23 the indigenous people, we as the Treaty right tribes, 24 we as the First Nations, have the aboriginal rights of 25 British Columbia.
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1 The Point Elliott Treaty includes 20 2 Treaty tribes. For Swinomish I can share that story. 3 For Swinomish they have been fishing in this usual 4 custom area which stretches, as my friends here, to 5 the north, to Point Roberts down through the south 6 Salish Sea. There are a thousand members who make up
7 the Swinomish community. Just a thousand. 562 of 8 them harvest. 562 members harvest. 9 163 of them registered as fishermen. 10 77 of them also registered to fish halibut. 200 11 registered for Dungeness crab. 17 for Gooey duck 12 which means going down and diving below the waters and 13 running with the killer whales. 17 for the baby sea
14 urchins. 32 for shrimp. 525. My correction on the 15 number for the record 16 Of these fishermen, they have 17 transferred that inherent right from generation to 18 generation. Today I mention a name, Brian Cladoosby,
19 he is the chairman of the Swinomish tribe. His Indian 20 name is Speedpots. 21 Chairman Cladoosby fishes on the
22 Skagit River with his grandfather, whose grandfather’s 23 grandfather signed the Point Elliott Treaty. He sits 24 on the river with his father, and he sits on the river 25 with his grandson, Nathaniel, who’s a 7th generation
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1 to the Point Elliott Treaty. 2 He passes his knowledge down to his 3 grandson. He passes his knowledge down to his 4 granddaughter, Bella. It’s the life way we will fight 5 for as the Swinomish people and we will stand by our 6 friends and families of the Coast Salish.
7 It is important for you to understand 8 that Coast Salish Nation consists of the 44 British 9 Columbia First Nations, from the Paul River down. It 10 consists of the 20 Treaty tribes along the West Coast 11 of Washington. These Coast Salish Nation, not 12 Indigenous groups, this Coast Salish Nation breathes 13 breathes the Salish Sea. They are the people of the
14 salmon. They are the people of the Gooey duck. 15 They’re the people of the killer whale. They are the 16 people of the sea urchins. They’re the people of the 17 eelgrass. Their songs, their cultures, their blood 18 lines are all intertwined throughout this beautiful
19 Salish Sea. 20 We spoke today as my friends and my 21 colleague here will talk about, the increase of vessel
22 traffic. It is not a matter of if for us in the 23 Salish Sea, it’s a matter of when. It’s a matter of 24 when one spill will destroy everything that we’ve 25 known. My name will be gone. Their names will be
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1 gone. The salmon will be gone. We will feel this 2 through the Gulf of Alaska, through the Pacific Ocean, 3 through the Salish Sea. 4 We may be having and hearing 5 statements such as ”well they are impacted.” How long 6 can we continue to be impacted before we are no longer
7 in existence with the killer whale and the salmon, 8 when our names are gone? When we as a matriarch 9 cannot pass my Indian name to my granddaughter and my 10 granddaughter and my granddaughter? These are 11 important factors. This is not a cost analysis. This 12 is not mitigatable. This is why the Coast Salish sit 13 here today. Why your Alaska natives will sit here
14 today. Why the Salish to the east will sit with us 15 today, and why the native Americans will sit to the 16 south of us. 17 Now, I just wanted to share just a 18 little bit when we talked about our culture being
19 destroyed. There are other four factors of the bulk 20 decision we will need to take into consideration of 21 recognizing it. That is, the bulk decision recognized
22 in the Treaty; conservation of the resources, take 23 care of what we have. Ceremonial, religious and 24 spiritual values and we share that here today. 25 Subsistence. I look the way I look
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1 because I live off the foods and live off the 2 environment that I come from. Just as my friends do 3 here. We are all salmon people. 4 And the commercial value, it’s part of 5 the economy of who we are. It’s always been. Whether 6 we traded our fish for elk; whether we traded our fish
7 for eulachons; whether we trade our fish for berries, 8 there is that lifestyle and quality of life that is 9 still practised today. Whether we trade our seal oil 10 for eulachon oil, it is the way of who we are today. 11 In closing, I want to just talk about 12 the very important woman who was part of the Swinomish 13 tribe. She shares in her declarations something
14 really important for us to remember. She has served 15 47 years as a fishing director and she sits on the 16 Pacific Salmon Commission. Her entire life way has 17 been giving back to those who love the Salish Sea, the 18 understanding of how to manage the salmon, how to
19 manage the habitat, how to manage and protect a 20 quality of life. Her name is Lorraine Loomis. And I 21 want to share the last reading of her declaration with
22 you. “The decline of fisheries is a problem across 23 almost all of our harvests, and does not just come 24 from the salmon. But salmon is the bellwether 25 species.”
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1 The health of the Swinomish community 2 is linked. The health of the Swinomish community is 3 linked to the health of the salmon in so many ways. 4 She knowns salmon her whole entire life, but she says, 5 “ I think we may be reaching a tipping point, here in 6 the Salish Sea.” And the rush of new projects, such
7 as this, is pushing against the Treaty rights, taking 8 away the areas where we fish and killing the fish by 9 destroying the habitat. I fear I will end my life 10 long stewardship of the Swinomish fisheries resources 11 by presiding over the dim and fading twilight of our 12 fishing right and for our culture. We, as a native 13 American people, will make decisions for seven
14 generations. The voices you hear today will be the 15 voices that have come from the past and the voices 16 that we’ll hear from the future. Thank you from the 17 Swinomish Indian Tribal Community for hearing our 18 concerns, for opening your ears and listening. And
19 for taking us into your hearts, and as you make your 20 decisions and recommendations today. Thank you for 21 the good work you are doing for hearing our truth.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mrs. 23 Lekanoff. Mr. Ehrlichman go ahead. 24 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Thank you and good 25 morning, Chair Beaudet, Dr. Levy, Dr. Steyn. Tom
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1 Ehrlichman here a consultant to the Swinomish tribal 2 community. I’ve had the great honour of working with 3 Ms. Lekanoff and the office of the chairman these past 4 eight years, specifically on vessel traffic impacts to 5 the Swinomish Treaty right, the Treaty fishing right. 6 Nothing I can say here this morning
7 could present a proper follow-up to the three speakers 8 we’ve just heard. To my ears, the message is, that 9 the decision you will make or the recommendation you 10 will make and the decision by the Minister of the 11 Environment and Climate Change will have a direct 12 impact on the survivability of the Swinomish tribe and 13 culture. The people are that culture.
14 The actions that the applicant is 15 taking throughout this process affect and determine 16 the survivability of the Swinomish culture. We 17 appreciate very much the effort you are making to 18 investigate the specific and direct environmental
19 impacts of this proposal on the Swinomish Indian 20 Tribal Community, and the other Coast Salish tribes on 21 the U.S. side of the border. I would like to read
22 some of Chairman Cladoosby’s testimony from his sworn 23 declaration, and from his transcript in the NEB 24 proceeding on the Trans Mountain Pipeline. 25 First I would like to put that
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1 testimony in context, chronologically. The Canadian 2 federal government will soon make a decision on the 3 Trans Mountain Pipeline which, as you know, will add 4 close to 700 tanker transits per year to the same 5 waters that are involved in the this proceeding. 6 So the first, four years ago, the U.S.
7 Coast Salish tribes appeared before the NEB, the 8 national energy board, and presented the testimony of 9 their direct impacts of that increased vessel traffic 10 on their Treaty rights and their interests. Then we 11 received notices from you, asking us for comments. 12 The chairman provided you a letter in October of 2018, 13 which you have as an exhibit, and thank you for your
14 attention to that letter and its exhibits. 15 Then the NEB went through a 16 reconsideration process and so Chairman Cladoosby 17 presented a new declaration on reconsideration in 18 December of 2018. And then here we are in May of
19 2019, back to Roberts Bank. So we have been over 20 here, above the vessel traffic impact of this project, 21 we’re over here today in October on the vessel traffic
22 impacts of the Roberts Bank Project, another project. 23 Obviously, one of our requests to this panel is that 24 you look at the cumulative impacts of all of the 25 proposed vessel traffic on the U.S. side of the border
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1 and how it affects our Coast Salish tribes. 2 We greatly appreciate, and I will 3 start reading from his declaration in a moment, but 4 within context, we greatly appreciate that the scope 5 of your review is not limited to impacts on the 6 Canadian side of the border. As directed by the
7 Minister, you are to look at, as you mentioned, the 8 incidentally or indirect impacts beyond just the 9 terminal itself or beyond just the Canadian waters, 10 and as you saw in the map from the Port, the ships 11 leave that terminal almost immediately. They’re 12 across the border. They may be traversing down the 13 Canadian side but they’ll also coming on the U.S.
14 side. 15 So the impacts are direct on the U.S. 16 side of the border. And your scope requires you to 17 make a recommendation, as I understand it, about the 18 environmental impacts that that additional ship
19 traffic will have, in addition to other projects, on 20 the Swinomish fishermen. 21 So, to begin our presentation on the
22 context and the technical side of this. The Swinomish 23 Indian Tribal Community is a sovereign Indian tribe, 24 recognized by the United States Government. 25 It governs the reservation, located
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1 adjacent to the mouth of the Skaget River on the 2 Salish Sea in the state of Seattle. The ancestors of 3 the Swinomish entered into the a Treaty with the 4 United States in 1855, in which they reserved their 5 treaty fishing rights in a large portion of the Skaget 6 River and in the marine waters of the Salish Sea, from
7 the U.S. side to the Canadian border. 8 I’d like to read from Chairman 9 Cladoosby’s declaration. Before I do, I’d like to ask 10 a process question of you or your staff, and make sure 11 that the letter we submitted with the Tulalip tribes, 12 the Suquamish tribe and the Lummi Nation on February 13 8, 2019 to your Panel has been received and is a part
14 of your record. It was submitted by Earthjustice, a 15 nonprofit law firm in Seattle. 16 The reason I ask is when I submitted 17 these materials a week ago Friday, I did get an email 18 back from your Panel secretariat saying, “We have your
19 letter, it’s already a part of the record.” I’m quite 20 sure the Earthjustice letter also is part of the 21 record, but I wanted to confirm before I read from one
22 of its exhibits. 23 THE CHAIRPERSON: I believe that 24 letter, as you mention, February 8, 2019, we did 25 receive it and it’s on the registry and is number
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1 1459. 2 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Thank you very much, 3 Madam Chair. There are a number of exhibits attached 4 it that letter including the declarations that have 5 been submitted to the National Energy Board in the 6 Trans Mountain Pipeline case. The reason we attached
7 those or the Justice attached those declarations, 8 which I presented to you, again last Friday, in hopes 9 of limiting the amount of time you had to go back 10 to -- I’m sure your stack of documents is this high 11 now. So we resubmitted those to you and that’s what’s 12 in this binder here. 13 And, if you go forward, you’re welcome
14 to follow along as I read. After the green section 15 you’ll see written evidence, Appexdix A, that’s for 16 the NEB proceeding, and another green separator begins 17 with Exhibit 1. And if you go forward about 50 pages 18 there you will see Exhibit 4 to our Justice letter,
19 and that’s the declaration of Brian Cladoosby in a 20 sworn statement dated December 4, 2018, in the Trans 21 Mountain Extension Project reconsideration. &&&
22 In paragraph, the chairman says: 23 ”The Swinomish tribe is a present 24 day successor and interest to the 25 tribes and bands that signed the
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1 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott with 2 the United States. One of the 3 core rights recognized and 4 reserved by the Treaty is the 5 tribe’s right to fish in our 6 adjudicated, usual and accustomed
7 fishing areas, in and around the 8 Salish Sea.” 9 And there he quotes -- Ms. Lekanoff 10 referenced the Boldt Decision, and that’s United 11 Stated v Washington 459 F sub 1020, 1049 for the year 12 1975. And again, I’m reading from Exhibit 4 in the 13 packet that I presented to you. I am on the first
14 page of chairman Cladoosby’s declaration. I’ll 15 continue: 16 “For thousands of years, our 17 homeland contained no 18 international boundaries. What
19 is now designated the Canadian 20 portion of the Salish Sea, to us, 21 remains part of our homeland.
22 Shared with other U.S. tribes 23 with Treaty reserve fishing 24 rights and our relatives from 25 First Nations in present day
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1 British Columbia.” 2 Page 2 at the top and paragraph 3 he 3 goes on: 4 ”Our Treaty guarantees us an 5 unfettered right of access to 6 these Usual and Accustomed
7 fishing areas.” 8 We call them U&A for short. 9 “Our cultural practices, our 10 elders and our subsistence needs 11 all depend upon fishing within 12 these areas. As described in the 13 attached letter from us to the
14 Canadian Government panel, 15 reviewing the Roberts Bank 2 16 proposal in British Columbia, the 17 waters upon which we depend know 18 no border; Fraser River sockeye
19 pass through U.S. waters to and 20 from the Fraser River and are an 21 important source of cultural,
22 spiritual and subsistence food 23 for all Coast Salish peoples, 24 including ourselves. See 25 attachment A.”
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1 Skipping down now to paragraph 4. 2 “The shipping lanes and 3 separations zones identified by 4 the Coast Guards for both the 5 U.S. and Canada within our U&A 6 are not exclusion zones. They
7 are not exclusion zones. We have 8 a right to fish within these 9 areas and we do. Even if our 10 fishermen elect not to fish there 11 at any given time, for safety 12 reasons or other reasons, tankers 13 and their support vessels do not
14 operate exclusively within those 15 designated areas, and regularly 16 interfere with our fishing right. 17 We experience a substantial 18 amount of lost gear and danger in
19 areas outside of the shipping 20 lanes and separation zones. The 21 survival of our culture and our
22 way of life is at stake.” 23 Paragraph 5: 24 “Our treaty reserve fishing areas 25 extend it the Canadian/U.S.
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1 border south, through Boundary 2 Pass and Haro Strait, to the 3 entrance of the Strait of Juan de 4 Fuca. Those areas are identified 5 as the route for Trans mountain 6 tanker and support vessels to and
7 from the ocean.” 8 I’m going to pause there and mention 9 that, again, this was on reconsideration, submitted to 10 the NEB after the chairman submitted his letter to you 11 in October of 2018. So this followed the letter to 12 you by a couple of months. And as you just heard he 13 referenced his letter to you in his testimony on the
14 cumulative impact from the Trans Mountain proposal. 15 Continuing on with paragraph 5: 16 “Each additional transit, through 17 our Treaty reserve fishing areas, 18 increases the loss of access to
19 our fishing areas and creates 20 additional risk of loss of life 21 and gear. The Trans Mountain
22 Expansion Project will have 23 direct adverse impacts on our 24 rights. There will also be 25 indirect and cumulative impacts
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1 to tribal rights to fishing and 2 resources.” 3 Paragraph 6: 4 “The Trans Mountain expansion 5 will generate an increase in 6 tanker traffic within our usual
7 and accustomed fishing areas on 8 both sides of the border. The 9 impact of this expansion, coupled 10 with increased traffic from other 11 military and private usage, 12 threatens our way of life. We 13 respectfully submit the following
14 attached letters and declarations 15 in support of our request for 16 denial. These include maps, and 17 a detailed description of our 18 culture and history. Attached
19 are the following:” 20 I’m going to pause there, Madam Chair, 21 because I want to remind the Panel that this is an
22 Exhibit 4 to the Earthjustice letter submitted in your 23 proceeding. And so the specific evidence he is 24 presenting of direct impacts of shipping to Swinomish 25 culture is laid out in this letter, this declaration.
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1 And even though it’s submitted in the NEB proceeding, 2 it’s been brought into your proceeding as Exhibit 4 to 3 that letter. 4 Secondly, I want to comment that the 5 impact he’s describing for the Trans-Mountain tankers 6 aren’t limited to the Trans Mountain tankers. They
7 are the exact same impact analysis that applies to the 8 Roberts Bank Terminal 2 cargo vessels. 9 So the reason the Earthjustice letter 10 submitted this declaration to you is to present that 11 evidence do you of those direct impacts from large 12 vessels shipping. 13 Now one might argue that there’s a
14 qualitative difference between tanker traffic and 15 cargo traffic, and that is true in terms of the amount 16 of oil that’s carried. But we do know, and you have 17 in your record, the fact that these large cargo 18 vessels and trends towards ever larger sizes also
19 means larger reservoirs of heavy bunker fuel carried 20 by these cargo ships. Sometimes a million to 2 21 million-gallons of heavy bunker fuel.
22 So in a sense, they are a small 23 tanker. So, I wanted to be clear about the testimony 24 you are hearing now and the evidence of direct 25 interference, applies equally to these large cargo
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1 vessels and is not just limited to the Trans mountain 2 tankers. 3 He says attached are the following, 4 and I’m continuing now with paragraph 6 of the 5 declaration of Chairman Cladoosby: 6 “Attached are the following:
7 Letter from Swinomish tribe to 8 review panel, Roberts Bank 9 Terminal 2 project, dated October 10 4, 2018.” 11 That was Attachment A. 12 “Next, letter from Swinomish 13 tribe to United States army core
14 of engineers dated August 14, 15 2017.” 16 With declarations from Lorraine 17 Loomis, Chairman Cladoosby, and I’m paraphrasing, 18 Tandy Wilbur, Steve Edwards, Leon John, Joseph
19 Williams, and Senator JJ Wilbur. I’m going to pause 20 there. It’s worth noting that each of these 21 declarations come from Swinomish tribal leadership.
22 Not coincidentally, they are 23 fishermen. They are on the water. And we probably 24 should have said this at the outset, but the reason 25 you get me is because they are out on the water right
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1 now, crabbing. There is an opening for crabbing, and 2 our fishermen and they are out there on the water 3 right now. Did you want to comment on that? Feel 4 free. 5 MS. LEKANOFF: Go ahead Madam 6 Chairman.
7 MR. GOBIN: Well luckily, I have some 8 children that are getting my gear ready for me. So 9 they’re getting the pots loaded up and baited up. But 10 like I said, it’s the dedication to ensure that our 11 life ways are here. If I had to miss the opening, I 12 would be here, because it’s that important to us; to 13 understand what this means for the next generations.
14 Are my grandchildren going to have the 15 opportunity of their own free will to be out there on 16 the water because of what they have grown up with, 17 what they’ve learned from. And will they have the 18 same value and appreciation for that same environment
19 that we tried to instill in them. But, with less and 20 less time, less and less activity, it gets harder and 21 harder to instill a life way that may only happen
22 hours at a time now. 23 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Thank you vice-chair 24 Gobin. Tom Ehrlichman resuming with the declaration 25 of Brian Cladoosby. The final bullet point in his
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1 attachment is letter from the Swinomish Tribe US army 2 core of engineers dated December 12, 2017. 3 I would like to pause there before 4 going to paragraph 7 to note that, what you are seeing 5 here is the Swinomish Tribe and other Coast Salish 6 nations having to respond project by project by
7 project by project, the process event, process event, 8 process event as individual projects. You have a 9 tremendous opportunity here to serve the public on 10 both sides of the border by looking at the cumulative 11 impacts. What’s the total environmental impact of 12 this project when added to the rest of the mix of 13 what’s there today, as a baseline, which already
14 directly interferes with our indigenous cultures. 15 Plus, then adding the new projects, and I’ll talk a 16 little bit more about that toward the end of my 17 presentation. 18 Continuing with paragraph 7:
19 “These letters and declarations 20 support the oral testimony shared 21 in November 28, 2018 from
22 vice-chair Tandy Wilbur and 23 Senator Jeremy Wilbur. Each of 24 our leaders is intimately 25 familiar with the cultural
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1 significance of our tribal 2 fishing. Each of these letters 3 and declarations provides 4 specifics on where we fish and 5 how close we are to the vessel 6 traffic lanes, and potential oil
7 spill pathways related to the 8 Trans Mountain transportation 9 routes. 10 Trans Mountain’s own spill 11 study clearly demonstrates that 12 spilled oil will travel into the 13 areas fished heavily by our
14 declarant fishers. See the Trans 15 mountain oil spill study volume 16 8A, 5.6.9-9 through 17 5.7.3.3(A3S4Y9). 18 These same areas are also
19 affected by cumulative impacts of 20 repeated small spills from 21 tankers and their numerous
22 support vessels.” 23 I’m going to stop there from reading 24 from Chairman Cladoosby’s declaration, and turn now to 25 Exhibit 5 to the Earthjustice letter, which is his
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1 live testimony at the NEB hearing in October 2014. 2 His testimony begins at transcript line 4342, where 3 Mr. Hassleman introduces the chair. And I’m going to 4 move ahead to transcript line 4351. 5 And this is the chairman’s direct 6 testimony on an important message that Ms. Lekanoff
7 delivered to you. The chairman says: 8 ”Sure. Like was stated earlier, 9 we are a Treaty tribe. My 10 grandfather -- my father is still 11 alive. His Indian name is 12 Kel-kahl-tsoot. Kel-kahl-tsoot. 13 He is the great grandfather to my
14 grandchildren. He is 81 years 15 old. 16 And so, it was his 17 great-grandfather, 18 Kel-kahl-tsoot, who signed the
19 Point Elliott Treaty in 1855. So 20 when you think about it, you 21 know, that’s not that long ago.
22 My Dad's still alive; he has 23 great-grandchildren, and his 24 great-grandfather signed the 25 Treaty.
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1 So, we are a Treaty tribe, 2 one of many Treaty tribes in the 3 United States of America. It’s 4 the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty. 5 And we ceded millions of acres of 6 land to the federal government,
7 and we were -- the place that 8 we’re living now, we’ve been 9 there since time immemorial. Our 10 roots go very deep. 11 We are a place-based society. 12 All of us in the Coast Salish 13 territory are. What that means
14 is, you know, we just can’t pick 15 up and move to Ottawa or New York 16 or Texas. You know, we are where 17 we are. We've been there since 18 time immemorial. We are very,
19 very blessed.” 20 I think that’s the essence of one of 21 the key messages here. We are asking you, independent
22 of what the applicant presents to you, we’re asking 23 you independently and objectively to look at the 24 evidence before you from the Swinomish tribe; from 25 other Coast Salish tribes on the U.S. side of the
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1 border; of your First Nations on the Canadian side. 2 To review that evidence and the specific testimony and 3 evidence of direct interference with the long-held 4 Treaty fishing right, which reserved something that 5 existed before. It didn’t create that right. The 6 language of that Treaty reserves the right to continue
7 to harvest fish and shellfish in the U and A, usual 8 and accustomed areas. 9 So again, you have the opportunity to 10 do something for history here, which is to recognize 11 that long standing Indigenous culture, look at the 12 direct impact to it, make an assessment as to whether 13 that culture is threatened by increased vessel traffic
14 of this nature and then to make a recommendation and 15 issue findings based on that evidence. 16 I would like to comment right now on 17 the scope of your review and the evidence and why you 18 have the authority and the duty to look at the
19 evidence on our U.S. side of the border. Again, 20 independent of what the applicant has done. And the 21 applicant has conceded here today, I think, that it’s
22 the federal government’s obligation to consult with 23 Indigenous people. The applicant didn’t shoulder that 24 responsibility today. It didn’t say we have done 25 that, it’s done, here it is. They said that’s the
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1 federal government’s duty. 2 So, we’re asking you to look at that 3 evidence of that consultation. Did it take place with 4 the affected Indigenous tribes? The scope of your the 5 review has to look at that across the border. As you 6 mentioned, one of the charges from the Minister is to
7 look at incidentally or indirect traffic. But also 8 your environmental statute, as you’ve noted in your 9 proceedings, and as we have noted in our letters and 10 so forth, requires that you look at the environmental 11 effects of the project outside of Canada. The 12 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, section 13 1(b)(iii), requires that evaluation of the effects of
14 a project outside of the Canada. 15 The federal government in Canada also 16 has charged you, in essence, with looking at the harm 17 of this project on Indigenous culture outside of 18 Canada, under a series of trans-boundary international
19 agreements and covenants, that are articulated in 20 great detail in the Earthjustice letter. I know 21 you’ve read the letter, you have had an opportunity to
22 look at those, you are very familiar with those. But, 23 we ask that, as you make your recommendations to the 24 Minister, that you highlight the Canadian federal 25 government’s duty under these international covenants,
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1 to prevent harm to Indigenous rights and culture. 2 Canada has a well-established 3 obligation to do that, arising from a number of 4 agreements and covenants that the federal government 5 has signed, ratified, including the international 6 covenant on civil and political rights, international
7 covenant on economic socio and cultural rights, the 8 United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous 9 peoples, which, as you know, specifically advises 10 Canada to address trans-boundary issues, and under the 11 U.N. convention of the law of the sea. 12 Now, my expertise as a trained lawyer 13 practising in the United States for 27 years, is to
14 advise projects on how to get permits for large master 15 plan communities or large development projects, 16 including industrial projects. After assisting in 17 countless environmental reviews and environmental 18 impact statements, appealing those, defending them, I
19 know that you have to look at the evidence of 20 environmental harm, and you have to analyze it. You 21 have to address it in your environmental impact
22 statement. You have to discuss any mitigation that 23 might minimize the significance of that harm. 24 When I advise my clients and there is 25 a tribe involved, I always encourage them, as the
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1 applicant, to present the decision-maker with the 2 analysis. Why would we not want to do that? Why 3 would we not want it look at our own impacts, talk to 4 that tribe, discuss the impacts, see if we can come to 5 some understanding about whether they can be mitigated 6 or not, and then present that to the decision maker, a
7 detailed analysis. It might only be two pages but it 8 would be detailed. This is the advice I would give my 9 clients to succeed in a permit process. 10 If the permit approval is not a 11 foregone conclusion because of politics or economics 12 or some other factor, and it’s a question of meeting 13 legal obligations, morally and legal obligations, to
14 not harm an indigenous culture, I would present that 15 analysis to you. I would have my client do that. 16 So naturally as Swinomish’s adviser on 17 these matters of vessel traffic impacts on Treaty 18 fishing rights, I inquired of your secretariat in
19 April, via email, whether there was some way we could 20 search here the voluminous record for a mention of the 21 Swinomish. Because we had submitted evidence and I
22 wanted to see the analysis of that evidence. 23 And I want to pause and thank Cindy 24 Parker, in particular, for bending over backwards to 25 assist the public, the tribes and I’m sure the
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1 applicant, to find what’s in that record. I think she 2 has gone way above and beyond any other public servant 3 I have had the pleasure to work with. 4 While fault was not hers that we 5 couldn’t locate a specific comment from the applicant 6 that mentions Swinomish, she sent me an email with an
7 exhaustive list of where the applicant may have 8 responded to the specific evidence that Swinomish 9 presented to you. And her list can be found at her 10 email dated April 3, 2019, in which she listed each of 11 the applicant’s responses to the information requests 12 by the Panel. 13 And I want to professionally and
14 personally thank the Panel for the information request 15 that you sent to the applicant, after you looked at 16 the evidence. For example, you sent them information 17 requests 13-20, -21, -22, -23, -25, in which you asked 18 the applicant to provide detailed and specific
19 analysis of where each tribe fished; what the impacts 20 of the project specifically on that tribe would be, 21 and Swinomish obviously is one of those. There are
22 four U.S. tribes making that request. And the 23 information I received back in this email with links 24 to where the applicant’s response might be, 25 unfortunately was blank when it said package 13
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1 responses from proponent. So I have not seen the 2 proponent’s responses there. I have searched other 3 links that were provided to us that were Swinomish. I 4 saw one mention in Tsleil-Waututh's comments where 5 they mentioned a study Swinomish had done. It was on 6 species of importance for food.
7 And if I could quickly pause there on 8 an evidentiary matter. There’s an exhibit 6 here we 9 provided which is the result of a Swinomish seafood 10 diet survey, it may have been responding to that, 11 where the median consumption of fish per day, it’s 12 Swinomish under this survey, was 80-grams of fish or 13 shellfish per day.
14 In the 95th quartile it was 384-grams 15 of seafood per day. That was the only mention I could 16 find in your record. Now I am here testifying that 17 the applicant hasn’t provided a specific response to 18 Swinomish, but I couldn’t find it in my effort to get
19 in and out of your record, and understandably it’s 20 difficult to have an index or a search function that 21 is bulletproof and we did the best we could. But, the
22 point is, it’s not clear, sitting here today, that the 23 evidence before you includes response from the 24 applicant to the specific evidence of direct harm that 25 Swinomish has submitted to you.
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1 So we urge you to have that revealed 2 to you or shown to you. We would also like to receive 3 a copy and be able it respond to it in our closing 4 arguments, written arguments to you. So we reserve 5 our right to do that and to comment on that. 6 Let’s go back to the duty under the
7 international conventions that the federal government 8 has signed and ascribed to, and how that affects the 9 environmental analysis. The law of the sea is an 10 important convention that Canada has signed on to, 11 because there it talks about innocent passage. And 12 it’s a term of art many of us are familiar with, but 13 the idea is that the shipping from this project is
14 going to pass through U.S. waters as well as Canadian 15 side of the border and affect our -- 16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can I interrupt you. 17 I would suggest that we have a break, 15 minutes. 18 Thank you. We should be back 11:25.
19 --- Upon recessing at 1112 / Suspension à 1112 20 --- Upon resuming at 1129 / Reprise à 1129 21 THE CHAIRPERSON: So Mr. Ehrlichman,
22 please resume with the presentation. 23 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Thank you, Madam 24 Chair, Panel members. Tom Ehrlichman for the 25 Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
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1 Madam Chair, I'm going to take just, I 2 think, just five more minutes. I appreciate your 3 patience and your listening to a long presentation, 4 and then I think our group would like to close with 5 some final comments from our elected leaders here. 6 I wanted to continue with the comment
7 on the law of the sea and the federal government's 8 obligations to look at environmental harm to the 9 Swinomish Tribe and other fishing tribes across the 10 border. 11 When we say across the border, that’s 12 kind of a misnomer here because these ships are going 13 to pass through U.S. waters and that’s why the law of
14 the sea is an important consideration for you on 15 environmental impacts and the federal government. 16 Section 3 of the UN Convention on the 17 Law of the Sea deals with innocent passage in the 18 territorial sea. In Article 19, paragraph 1 -- that's
19 Article 19, paragraph 1, the Convention clarifies that 20 passage is only: 21 "innocent so long as it is not
22 prejudicial to the peace, good 23 order or security of the coastal 24 state" 25 In this case, Washington State in the
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1 U.S. 2 "Such passage shall take place in 3 conformity with this Convention 4 and with other rules of 5 international law." 6 Article 21 also requires that any
7 innocent passage through a territorial sea, in this 8 case the U.S. waters, must adhere to the laws and 9 regulations adopted by the coastal state for "the 10 conservation of the living resources of the sea" and 11 for the "prevention of infringement of the fisheries 12 laws and regulations, preservation of the environment 13 and the prevention, reduction and control of pollution
14 thereof." 15 And we would submit that preservation 16 of the environment includes the human environment, 17 namely, the indigenous peoples that have fished there 18 since time immemorial.
19 In support of the evidence we’re 20 presenting on the direct harm that comes to the 21 Swinomish fishermen fishing on the U.S. side of the
22 border from this project, I want to call your 23 attention to the Chairman’s letter of October 4, 2018, 24 footnote 4. 25 There, we cited to the submissions to
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1 the NEB relating to the Trans Mountain Pipeline. It 2 was then explained to us by the Panel secretariat that 3 in order for things to be in your record we couldn’t 4 just cite to something over there, we had it actually 5 present it to you. 6 And the fourth item listed there was
7 called "written evidence". 8 And if you go beyond to the end of the 9 letter, you will see behind the green -– next green 10 page, the title is "Written evidence, Appendix A". 11 So we’re presenting to you in hard 12 copy what was cited in footnote 4 of the Chairman’s 13 letter. And this was an investigation of direct
14 impacts and interference with our treaty fishing by an 15 independent maritime consultant, Marico Marine. 16 They're out of the U.K. and New Zealand. And they did 17 an analysis of how the Trans Mountain Pipeline tanker 18 traffic increase would adversely affect the Swinomish
19 Tribe and other treaty fishing tribes. 20 So we’ll leave that with you for your 21 review. And that is a good piece of direct
22 interference effect on the U.S. side of the border in 23 our usual and accustomed fishing areas. 24 You’ll see in there a discussion about 25 bunkering or refueling.
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1 And the Roberts Bank 2 Terminal, we 2 understand, will not conduct refueling at that site. 3 That means they're going to refuel somewhere else. 4 We doubt they'll go up to Vancouver, 5 but the customary places to refuel in the Salish Sea 6 are at Port Angeles or Anacortes, right next to the
7 Swinomish reservation in our prime fishing grounds. 8 Bunkering not only has a direct 9 interference effect from bringing ships in and out of 10 where people fish, but it also, obviously, has an 11 environmental effect. 12 And I want to clarify our argument for 13 you and the applicant, it isn’t just a pollution oil
14 spill argument. That is not the end of that story. 15 The issue is, as the Chairman said, 16 our right to fish in our usual and accustomed fishing 17 area and the direct physical interference and danger 18 that large ships pose for our smaller fishing vessels.
19 Please review the declaration of 20 Lorraine Loomis, which was Exhibit 1 to the Earth 21 Justice letter. It has a very detailed analysis and
22 explanation of how direct that effect is in what she 23 calls the affected area. 24 That’s just the Haro Strait passage 25 down to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. And that accounts
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1 for almost half of the fishing income and cultural 2 fishing practices of the Swinomish tribe. 3 With all of that evidence, we had a 4 hard time understanding the applicant’s explanation 5 which we've quoted on the very front of our binder 6 which says:
7 "In the event of a collision 8 between a vessel engaged in 9 traditional use activities and a 10 container ship, a minor to 11 serious adverse residual impact 12 on the ability of the affected 13 Aboriginal group to exercise
14 Aboriginal and treaty rights 15 associated with those activities 16 would be expected." 17 I guess that’s further evidence we’re 18 presenting to you that is an admission by the
19 applicant that there will be direct interference, 20 likely, and have an adverse effect on our culture. 21 In order to really get to the bottom
22 of that, we think the federal government of Canada 23 needs to consult -- have a consultation directly with 24 the Swinomish Tribe. And this hearing is not that. 25 With all of the good will and the
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1 hours you're putting in to these hearings, and we 2 appreciate the invitation so much, that you've given 3 us a morning session, we have to say, this is not a 4 government-to-government consultation as that is used 5 by the Canadian –- interpreted by the Canadian Supreme 6 Court.
7 There has to be a good faith exchange 8 of information with the affected tribe. And in this 9 case, the evidence we've presented needs to be 10 addressed specifically as I've argued. 11 And we thank you very much for the 12 attention and the time you're putting in to 13 considering that evidence. Again, we'd like to see
14 the evidence of any consultation that’s taken place 15 with the Swinomish Tribe. I couldn’t find it, but 16 we’re open to responding to that if we missed it and 17 something did occur, or if there is some analysis. 18 We'd like to take a look.
19 We’re happy -- I‘m happy to answer 20 questions, but I think we want to close with final 21 comments from our group.
22 Thank you very much for your attention 23 and your patience. 24 CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Okay. So we have 25 spoken on behalf of the indigenous people of the
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1 treaty tribes of the Salish Sea and for the natural 2 resources that don’t have a voice such as the salmon 3 and the qwe’lhol mechen, the whale. 4 You've heard the story of how revered 5 the orca, qwe’lhol mechen, is to us and how they've 6 helped our people in the past.
7 So this picture that you're looking 8 at, on the left is the Tulalip tribal canoe. On the 9 right is a First Nations canoe. And that orca whale 10 that’s in the centre was Luna, who was eventually 11 killed by being hit by a prop of a ship. And this was 12 a time period after this picture was taken. 13 And last year, down south of us, you
14 had a mother -- orca mother carrying her carcass of 15 her dead baby around the sound. These are the ones 16 that do not have the voices and are asking for our 17 help. 18 And it’s something that -- we have to
19 protect this before it’s gone. We have to make a 20 stand for the future generations so our children will 21 know that when we fished the San Juans we used to have
22 pods of whales that would come right towards our boat, 23 go under our boat, go all around us. And it was the 24 most awesome thing you could see. 25 They would drive the fish into your
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1 net. But then once they were through, you would pick 2 up your net because there was going to be no more fish 3 in the area because they were still driving them. But 4 they are ones who don’t have that voice, and we need 5 to do something to protect them. 6 And I want to thank you for listening.
7 Thank you. 8 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Glen Gobin. 9 I’m a lifetime fisherman and when I 10 say that, I've been on the water since I could row a 11 boat, literally. I started running my own boat at 15, 12 being the skipper, and continue to do so. 13 My father was a lifetime fisherman.
14 His father was a lifetime fisherman. And his father 15 was a lifetime fisherman. I want my grandchildren to 16 be able to continue to carry that way of life. 17 And it isn’t just the harvesting that 18 provides for your family. It’s the being on the water
19 and the relationship with nature that takes place, the 20 teaching of the next generations of what this water 21 means, the power that it holds, the life that comes
22 from that water, how the currents work, what happens 23 to the shorelines, how the changes in the shoreline 24 take place and will impact how you’re going to 25 navigate through these waters.
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1 All through life it’s teaching, 2 ensuring that the next generations understand the 3 value of what they have all around them. 4 Twenty-five years ago, we used to fish 5 out here. You would set your net and the net would 6 come up clean. There would be nothing stuck to the
7 meshes to hang onto it. 8 Today when we fish, you have to have a 9 hose up in front spraying on the net to wash the 10 sludge off the net. I don’t know where the sludge is 11 coming from, but it’s there. 12 And those are the daily changes or the 13 yearly changes that, if we choose to look at what’s
14 happening around us, what’s happening to our 15 environment as we continue to develop in the name of 16 economics, but what it’s costing the next generations. 17 Everything we mitigate today, in some 18 way, comes off from the next generations. Mother
19 nature had -- no longer has the ability to absorb the 20 mistakes that man has made or to offset the 21 development that man has done to absorb it and grow in
22 other ways. 23 Everything now is a taking. And to 24 mitigate means that there's still going to be harm 25 that takes place which will mean that my grandchildren
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1 will have less and less. My grandchildren will have 2 less and less opportunity to exercise a treaty right 3 that’s been preserved since 1855 that was never given 4 up in the treaty. 5 It was never negotiated for. It was 6 held back, reserved, to do that.
7 And without a resource that’s there, 8 it’s a taking. With more traffic that goes through 9 this area, it’s a taking of an opportunity to be in 10 this area. It comes from that next generations. 11 That’s why it is so important to us. 12 It’s the life ways of our people. It’s what binds us 13 together, not just as a tribe but as a global Coast
14 Salish people, understanding that connection. It’s 15 why it’s so important that we’re here to address what 16 this means to those next generations. 17 What do you wish for your 18 grandchildren? Do you want them to live the life that
19 you have lived, to enjoy the things that you have seen 20 in nature, to enjoy what you have to enjoy? The rain 21 that even comes down in a way.
22 I believe we all want those things. 23 We need to understand what development is doing, 24 taking away from those future generations. 25 And like our chairwoman had spoke, we
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1 come here as that voice, not just for today. It’s 2 primarily for that next generation, to ensure that 3 they have that connection. 4 And it’s for those animals, those 5 species, those living things that we harvest from the 6 Salish Sea, and we respect that. But we want to be
7 their voice as well because we see the diminishing 8 returns. 9 And it’s diminishing because of the 10 water quality that comes out, it’s diminishing because 11 of the water temperature that comes out. It’s 12 diminishing because of the loss of habitat in their 13 estuary areas where the juveniles grow. It’s
14 diminishing in the way they travel up and down the 15 stream because man has put blockage in the way. It’s 16 diminishing because things are changing all around and 17 mother earth can no longer absorb it. 18 We have to hear those cries and we
19 have to be willing to open our eyes to see those 20 changes that are coming, to see those impacts because 21 nothing is the same as when we started growing our
22 lives, when we started growing. 23 And you look around you and you see 24 the changes. What are we doing to preserve that? 25 So I thank you for the opportunity,
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1 Madam Chair, Panelists, to hear our voices, to hear 2 our concerns, to hear the cumulative impacts, to hear 3 the passion in our voices and our hearts about what 4 this means for those next generations. 5 It’s not about a dollar. It’s about a 6 life way. It’s about a culture that’s been here since
7 time immemorial. 8 And I thank you for the opportunity 9 and your willingness to hear our voices today. 10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. 11 You are most welcome. 12 Thank you for your presentation and 13 thank you for the –- for sharing your knowledge with
14 us. 15 We have questions, if you may allow 16 us. And I will start with Dr. Levy. 17 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you for -- all 18 four of you for taking the time to come up from the
19 States and share your knowledge and your traditional 20 knowledge of the Salish Sea. If I’m going to ask only 21 a few questions I address them to all four of you, so
22 whoever feels like answering, go right ahead. 23 Now, we've talked about the Salish 24 Sea. As you know, Salish Sea includes Puget Sound and 25 what we used to call the Strait of Georgia.
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1 When you refer to the Salish Sea, is 2 it only Puget Sound or does it extend into Canada? 3 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: It’s the 4 whole encompassing area. 5 MEMBER LEVY: Right up to Campbell 6 River.
7 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Yes. 8 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you. 9 MS. LEKANOFF: Can I follow up? 10 MEMBER LEVY: Sure. 11 MS. LEKANOFF: Yes, sir. 12 Many years ago the Coast Salish 13 gathering, which I explained earlier brings the 44
14 B.C. First Nations and the 20 treaty tribes, we lifted 15 up the application to rename the Salish Sea to bring 16 these waters together just as it brought together the 17 blood lines. So we really acknowledge the name of the 18 Salish Sea as bringing together the Coast Salish
19 people from the waters to the resources to the salmon. 20 So thank you for that question because 21 it enhances more so why we’re all here today.
22 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you. That’s a 23 good answer. 24 MR. EHRLICHMAN: May I add to that, 25 Dr. Levy?
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1 MEMBER LEVY: Yes, by all means. 2 MR. EHRLICHMAN: In the declaration of 3 Lorraine Loomis there is an attachment, Exhibits A 4 through C. I just wanted to clarify that in her 5 declaration she has identified what she calls the area 6 affected and there's a map of that in the first page
7 of her exhibits, so that's easy it see what she's 8 talking about there. 9 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you. 10 Now, when Mr. Stewart introduced the 11 project, he mentioned the focus on Chinook salmon in 12 particular because they're the species that utilize 13 the estuary around Roberts Bank and other parts of the
14 Fraser estuary. 15 Could you briefly describe your 16 Chinook fishery? I believe in the States they're 17 called King salmon. 18 For example, how and where you harvest
19 Chinook salmon. 20 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Tulalip does 21 not come in specifically and harvest Chinook salmon
22 above the Fraser River any longer. There are not 23 enough harvestable numbers to warrant that, so 24 whatever is left is caught incidentally, typically 25 through the Sockeye fishery, our Coho fishery and
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1 possibly even some late in the chum fishery. 2 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you. 3 I'd like to turn to the area with the 4 –- of the Fraser River and Roberts Bank. You said 5 traditionally you were harvesting salmon in the Fraser 6 River.
7 Did you have fish camps on the Fraser 8 or did you have some kind of reciprocal arrangements 9 with the local tribes? 10 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: There were 11 summer camps for numerous tribes, Coast Salish people 12 that came and harvested within the area. Ours are 13 noted there as well.
14 I would note that at treaty times, 15 when Captain Vancouver came in, who the city is named 16 after, his guide to go around the Salish Sea was a 17 Snohomish, one of our people. His name was 18 Waskalachi, and he was the guide for Captain Vancouver
19 that took him not only south in Puget Sound, but 20 north, well into Canada. And that’s well documented 21 throughout the Hudson Bay diaries.
22 MEMBER LEVY: So I‘m going to end with 23 a very challenging question. 24 You mentioned the very strong 25 association you have with killer whales, the picture
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1 of Luna in front of us and highly revered. You called 2 them brothers of the sea. And I notice that the logo 3 of the Tulalip tribe is a killer whale. 4 So there's a huge amount of 5 scientific -– traditional knowledge around killer 6 whales and lots of scientific knowledge. Killer
7 whales are endangered both in the U.S., U.S. EPA, and 8 also in Canada under the Species at Risk Act. 9 And because of this, there's been a 10 huge amount of intense scientific work on killer 11 whales by a number of parties, including the Port of 12 Vancouver. 13 And so how can we ensure that your
14 traditional knowledge gets meaningfully integrated 15 with western scientific knowledge? 16 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Probably the 17 most obvious one is through consultation with tribes 18 to understand that knowledge, and that’s where it
19 would begin. 20 MS. LEKANOFF: I think one of the 21 other –-- I agree with my colleagues here to the
22 right. 23 Very quickly, in the Skagit River and 24 the Stahlo, Chief behind me had told me the story on 25 the Fraser how interconnected we are to the killer
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1 whale. 2 When the wolf and eagle were running 3 and chasing each other along the rivers they collided, 4 landed in the Skagit River, shot out into the ocean 5 and there became the killer whale. It is the killer 6 whale that stretches all throughout the Coast Salish
7 communities and then also up north to Alaska. 8 Hear our truth, understand our songs, 9 our cultures. 10 Ray Fryberg, who is going to be down 11 here from Tulalip, his name is killer whale. 12 These are things that are very tied 13 and very honoured, and if we can consult with you
14 directly and with the federal government and having 15 our colleagues and our industry and our ports and our 16 local governments understand that, just think what 17 better we can do together and where we’ll be in the 18 future as we start growing the Salish Sea as it should
19 be grown, for seven generations. 20 MEMBER LEVY: Thank you for your 21 answers. Those are my questions.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Dr. Levy. 23 I have a few questions as well. 24 When you talk that you have a hole in 25 your nets to let the sludge pass, do you -- are you
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1 referring here to bitumen or oil sludge? 2 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: So what I’m 3 referring to is a gill net, and it’s a diamond mesh 4 and you have thousands of them that connect together. 5 And the organic dead matter, I'm not sure if it’s oil 6 sludge or what it is, it accumulates on the meshes so
7 as you set your net and if you let it sit too long, it 8 comes up filled with this grey sludge material that 9 looks like mud. 10 And it never used to be there. And 11 it’s not only up there, it’s throughout the Salish Sea 12 where this is forming. 13 And so it’s -- it’s those obvious
14 changes that we see taking place that never were there 15 before. 16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 17 My next question is, do you still 18 harvest for traditional purposes near the project --
19 where the project is going to be or near Roberts Bank? 20 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: I’m sorry; I 21 didn’t understand the question.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you still harvest 23 for traditional purposes near Roberts Bank or near 24 where the project is going to be? 25 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: We harvest up
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1 to the border. Yes, we do. 2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 3 And my last question is, you explained 4 to us the importance of the southern resident killer 5 whale, but more in terms of providing resources for 6 your people. I'd like to hear a little bit more from
7 the spiritual aspect what these southern resident 8 killer whale means to you. 9 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: It’s 10 understanding through our legends. There were three 11 brothers, three killer whales, and they were related 12 to the salmon people. And that’s why, when our people 13 were starving and they heard the pleas that they came
14 in. 15 And it’s the honour and respect of 16 that symbol, this magnificent animal -- mammal that 17 swims in the water that doesn’t bother us at all. And 18 it’s the respect of that animal and what he did for
19 our people through those teachings that were handed 20 down through those stories and we hold him in high 21 regard.
22 And it’s not just at Tulalip; it’s 23 with most Coast Salish people, if not all. 24 THE CHAIRPERSON: I believe it’s also 25 on the eastern side of Canada. I’ve heard stories as
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1 well of people talking to the whales and hearing the 2 whales talking to them. And that’s why -- that was 3 the purpose of my question. 4 CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: The orcas are 5 really intelligent. And I've been watching different 6 things about them on how they are in different parts
7 of the world. They speak different languages. 8 So when they recorded them near New 9 Zealand, they have totally different tones and totally 10 different dialect that they do. When they were 11 recording them in this area, they could hear them 12 communicate, you know, for long distance. But they -- 13 they're chattery. They talk a lot. But they talk to
14 each other. 15 And that’s how they have learned the 16 same way we have. Their hunting skills are passed 17 down from generation to generation. 18 If you'll watch what they do, like up
19 in Alaska, they will come up like this one, with the 20 head up to peek to see where their prey is. If 21 there's a seal on ice, they will go back, then they'll
22 go down, they'll go back. And they come together as a 23 group and they charge it to knock the seal into the 24 water. 25 But these are things that have been
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1 passed down and they do it differently. Different 2 pods do it differently. 3 So this is generationally passed down 4 hunting techniques for them to fish. 5 And it was -- it’s so interesting that 6 they have the same -- it’s the same teachings that’s
7 passed down generation to generation. 8 And this was on one of the scientific 9 programs that they said that they were amazed on how 10 they pulled this together. They would -- you know, in 11 different areas, they hunted different. 12 I mean, they would -- it's amazing to 13 know how intelligent they are, but it is passed down
14 to there -- from generation to generation just like 15 what -- our families. 16 MS. LEKANOFF: When the tribal man was 17 speaking about the killer whales from Alaska all the 18 way down -- and I explained I was from southeast
19 Alaska. We gill net fish similar to the nets that 20 Vice-Chairman Gobin used, 75 fathoms out in the ocean, 21 so how closely our killer whales take care of us and
22 we take care of them. 23 As a little girl in a 19-foot skiff on 24 the wide open ocean with my dad -- my little brother 25 was young. We were little kids.
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1 Its rough waters, open ocean, nobody 2 around. Nobody as far as you can see. My dad was 3 nervous and he's like, "Let’s go, let’s go". You 4 know, he gets us going. 5 We were little. I think I was maybe 6 seven and my brother was five, sitting in the 19-foot
7 skiff. It's storming, blowing, waves are picking up. 8 Dad takes off. Loud. You hear this 9 roaring coming up, louder than the wind, louder than 10 the rain. And the killer whales pop up, small pod, 11 little ones. 12 Scared. I’m a little girl. My dad 13 reaches forward and puts his hand on my shoulder.
14 "You’re okay", he says, and put my hand on my 15 brother’s hand. "We’re okay". 16 And those killer whales came with us, 17 seemed like forever, until the waters calmed down and 18 we came into the inlet in the Yakutat a little bit
19 better. And they went this way and dad took us 20 inside, inlet. 21 The killer whales are so important to
22 us. They take care of us as we take care of them. 23 They are part of the houses where I 24 come from in Alaska. They are part of the names and 25 the cultures and the songs and the history here.
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1 Without them, just like without the salmon, we become 2 a shell of who we are. 3 Without those little baby frogs up in 4 the instream flow area, my name means nothing. Who am 5 I? 6 It is important for you to understand
7 as you spoke earlier. We’re here to tell our truth to 8 those who call this place home, those who are building 9 growth in economies and growth in creating workforce 10 development. 11 We’re not saying no. We’re saying 12 let’s do it and how do we do it right, and please 13 don’t do it on the backs of who we are as indigenous
14 and native American people. 15 Thank you today because I think you 16 heard our truths. 17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 18 Dr. Steyn has questions as well.
19 MEMBER STEYN: Thank you for your 20 stories. I enjoyed them. 21 So you're people of the sea, you're
22 fishing people. You spend time in the waters and both 23 of you, from a young age. And you understand the 24 waters as you are fishermen, I assume. 25 So could you help me understand the
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1 sorts of effects that passing ships may have on your 2 fishing activities? And there's one I'm particularly 3 interested in, and that is the effect of the ships' 4 waves on your fishing. 5 Can you tell the difference between a 6 wave from a ship and a wave from the wind?
7 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: Absolutely. 8 You definitely know the waves from a ship when it 9 comes in. And it’s just the wake. It could be the 10 opposite direction that the wind is blowing the 11 natural waves depending on which way the ship is 12 travelling. 13 And you can definitely tell when that
14 ship’s wake knocks your coffee pot off the stove. 15 But the main interaction is when 16 you’re set up because our gill nets are 1,800 feet 17 long. These ships that are being proposed are 1,300 18 and –- over 1,300 feet long. And it’s almost as long
19 as the net. And you have to pick this net to get it 20 out of the way of the ship that’s coming through or 21 maybe a tug's going out to greet -– to help manoeuvre
22 the ship in when where it’s got to be. And so it’s a 23 about displacing that opportunity. 24 So if I only have a 12-hour opening 25 and I see a ship coming, I can’t set out until after
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1 it goes by and then I can set again. So I may wait an 2 hour for that to take place. 3 Or if the tugs are there and then I 4 see that there's another ship that’s maybe coming or 5 the tugs -– or maybe the tug comes out ahead of time 6 and then you figure, well, I gotta get out of here
7 because the ship's coming in. 8 So you’re anticipating that move and 9 you're getting displaced from those fishing areas. 10 And then, of course, it’s the -- it’s 11 the treacherous travel through Haro Straits and then 12 when you factor in the proposal of the additional 13 ships that may be coming in from new projects that may
14 or may not be coming on with the existing traffic with 15 these size ships through there, that potential risk is 16 huge. 17 MEMBER STEYN: Thank you. 18 I don’t want to in any way make less
19 important the direct effect of displacement, but I do 20 want to stay with the waves for a little bit more. 21 So I like your coffee pot wave meter.
22 The -– do you detect the effect through the height of 23 the wave or the shape of the wave? 24 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: You get about 25 three to four waves that come from that ship and it
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1 will be a big rolling wave that comes. And the first 2 one's a little smaller, then it builds till about the 3 third wave and then it starts to diminish again. But 4 there's a definite difference between them. 5 MEMBER STEYN: Okay. And it’s not 6 just the height of the wave. It's as you're
7 describing it, the shape. 8 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: It’s 9 partially the height. It's the spacing. 10 And the wave travels for miles, too. 11 So the ship could be in a distance off and you’ll 12 still feel it at different times depending on the 13 direction it was going.
14 MEMBER STEYN: Thank you very much. 15 MS. LEKANOFF: May I follow up with a 16 conversation on the wave? 17 There's the wave on top of the water 18 and then there's a pressure of the wave underneath.
19 Many of our fishermen are geoduck 20 divers, meaning they're in water suits with air hoses 21 going all the way up and they're down gathering sea
22 urchins and geoducks. 23 The pressure of the wave and the 24 pressure of a boat coming by -- we talked about the 25 killer whales. You know, you just slow down a little
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1 bit, they won’t feel the pressure. 2 These young men are down underneath 3 the water when these ships go by sometimes a mile or 4 two away. They've described a pressure so much as 5 they can’t breathe. They can’t hear. They're 6 pressure up against from the impact of the waves
7 coming underneath the water. So as our fishermen feel 8 it above, our fishermen feel it below and our killer 9 whales feel it around. 10 So when we talked about the wave, I 11 hope that helps you understand on top and then below, 12 from the declarations that you’ll read from J.J. 13 Wilbur and I believe Joe Williams in the Swinomish.
14 Thank you, sir. 15 MEMBER STEYN: Thank you very much. 16 THE CHAIRPERSON: I have one more 17 question. 18 We were told that most of the traffic
19 is at night. So what time of the day do you go out 20 fishing, from what time to what time, usually? 21 VICE-CHAIRPERSON GOBIN: It could be
22 open 24 hours a day, so it’s potential for all of it. 23 There are some times when it’s just daytime, but there 24 are times, then -– but if that’s going to be an 25 opening, typically you would do it before it gets
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1 daylight or you would extend it through darkness, the 2 evening, sunset. 3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Because cod 4 fishermen, they go before daylight, if I remember 5 well. 6 Thank you.
7 I have one small question to Vancouver 8 Fraser Port Authority. I believe we have this 9 information, but I just want to make sure. 10 Where are the ships refueling when 11 they come to Deltaport, or where they'll be coming to 12 RBT2? 13 MR. STEWART: Thank you, Madam Chair.
14 Currently the majority of them fuel in 15 Asia and do the round trip. Some of them may -- as 16 you know, all the ships that call at Vancouver also 17 call in Seattle or Tacoma, so some of them may bunker 18 down there. I’m not aware of that.
19 But they don’t bunker -– they 20 generally don’t bunker in Vancouver. If they were to, 21 they would have to move from Deltaport today into
22 English Bay. There's no bunkering currently permitted 23 in Roberts Bank. 24 We have more information on that in 25 EIS Section 4.4.2.1 and marine shipping addendum
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1 4.2.2.5. 2 THE CHAIRPERSON: I knew there was 3 some information somewhere. Thank you. 4 Would the proponent have questions to 5 our presenters? 6 MR. STEWART: Madam Chair, no, we
7 don’t have any questions. 8 I just perhaps could make a short 9 closing remark. 10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes. But before 11 I’ll ask also our presenters, would they have more 12 questions to Vancouver Fraser Port Authority? 13 MR. EHRLICHMAN: Madam Chair, Tom
14 Ehrlichman. 15 We would just appreciate receiving, as 16 I said, any information specific to the evidence that 17 we have submitted. 18 Thank you.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 20 So Mr. Stewart, you can go ahead with 21 your –- are there any questions from the participants
22 in the audience? 23 Thank you. 24 So you may go ahead with your closing 25 statement. Thank you.
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1 CLOSING STATEMENT 2 MR. STEWART: Thank you, Madam Chair 3 and Panel members. And thank you -- I'd like to thank 4 the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Tulalip 5 Tribe representatives here today. 6 We share their interest in protecting
7 the Salish Sea ecosystem. In particular, we share 8 your deep concern for qwe’lhol mechen. 9 We acknowledge their issues and 10 interests, and appreciate that they have taken time 11 out of their weekend and in advance of a crab opening 12 to participate in the Panel process. Thank you very 13 much.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much 15 for being with us today. It’s been an honour to 16 listen to you, and I wish you all the best. Thank 17 you. 18 We will resume this afternoon at one
19 o’clock, please. 20 --- Upon recessing at 1209 / Suspension à 1209 21 --- Upon resuming at 1320 / Reprise à 1320
22 --- Drumming ceremony 23 CHIEF JAMES: Dear friends, relatives, 24 elders and respected [indiscernible - off microphone] 25 I'm going to to say a few words and thank each and
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1 every one of you for being here. 2 So I want to have a short explanation 3 of this song that we sang. 4 The song is called the Survivor Song, 5 and this song comes from our story. In our culture 6 it's the story of a great flood, and this one comes
7 from our story. 8 And in the song, it says (Indigenous 9 language spoken). 10 And those words, they mean my highly 11 respected people, we come from the survivors of the 12 great flood. Come together, my Indian people, and 13 stand strong. (Indigenous language spoken)
14 Just like today, that we're all 15 standing strong. We're all standing strong together. 16 I'm thank each and everyone one of 17 you. (Indigenous language spoken) 18 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON: (Indigenous
19 language spoken) Asking you to witness the words and 20 the work that's going to take place here. 21 (Indigenous language spoken)
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, and 23 welcome to people from the Bellingham region from the 24 United States. We are very honoured that you have 25 come today to share your knowledge.
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1 And I would invite you now to start 2 your presentation. Thank you. 3 PRESENTATION 4 ELDER MORRIS: Hy'shqe to the Panel. 5 We appreciate the opportunity to share who the Lummi 6 Nation is as a people, what we believe as a culture,
7 and we want to share that with you and leave that 8 message with you. 9 Our message to you today to start is 10 no consent to the Roberts Bank Terminal, but we want 11 to have testimony to explain why, what the impact 12 would be to our people. 13 So we'll start with our Hereditary
14 Chief, Tsilixw. 15 THE CHAIRPERSON: When you speak, 16 would you please identify yourselves so that we can 17 have it in the transcript? 18 ELDER MORRIS: (Indigenous name)
19 Raynell Morris from the Lummi Nation. 20 CHIEF JAMES: (Indigenous language 21 spoken) Bill James.
22 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON: (Indigenous 23 language spoken) I'm Lawrence Solomon. I'm the Lummi 24 Nation secretary. Thank you for having me. 25 CHIEF JAMES: (Indigenous language
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1 spoken) 2 I speak to you in my language and my 3 tongue. My name is William. I'm William James. 4 Tsilixw is my Indian name. 5 I come from many peoples. I come 6 from -- my great-grandmother comes from (Indigenous
7 name), from Kuper Island. My family comes from the 8 Duwamish people of Seattle. My family comes from up 9 the Fraser Valley. 10 We all come from different people. 11 This is just my heritage where I come from. 12 We're here today to try and help 13 protect mother earth and protect the teachings of our
14 ancestors. 15 Our ancestors told stories and legends 16 of everything, how the animals and the birds and the 17 trees and the mountains were created from people, and 18 they are all related to us.
19 You might think these are stories and 20 legends, but these are teachings, teachings to protect 21 mother earth. We have to protect all of these things
22 in order for us to survive. Okay. 23 I've seen many things happen in my 24 life pertaining to the water. I've seen two different 25 species disappear in my life from the water.
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1 There are so many things that are 2 happening. I've seen great big scabs on our salmon 3 coming in. The pollution that’s being caused by all 4 the big boats and the things that are happening, the 5 coal and everything that’s coming into our waters. 6 We're here to help and speak for them.
7 We're here to help and speak for the animals and the 8 birds, the trees, the mountains and the fishes. 9 They have no voice. We're here to 10 help protect them. 11 As a teacher for over 40 years, I 12 always teach the young people, "What are you folks 13 going to do when there's going to be no more grocery
14 store?" You have to take care of what you have today. 15 You have to learn to take care of what to eat and what 16 not to eat because the day is coming quickly, the 17 farmers are not raising cows. Where's your milk going 18 to come from? Where's your meat going to come from?
19 The farmers are not farming the land. 20 There are so many things that are going on in our 21 environment. It’s not only the water. It’s the
22 mountains, the clear-cutting of our forests, and the 23 pollution of our waters, the habitat of our salmon. 24 Everything all relates to each other 25 and we need to open our eyes and open the eyes of
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1 everyone. It’s not just our problem. It belongs to 2 each and every one of you that if it’s going to affect 3 each and every one of your families some day, what are 4 you going to leave for your children and your 5 grandchildren behind you? 6 You've got to think about those
7 things. What’s it going to be like for them? 8 I'm a survivor. I'm a survivor of the 9 great flood. I'm a survivor of smallpox. I'm a 10 survivor of the flu epidemics. 11 I’m a survivor of the day schools. 12 I’m a survivor of the boarding schools. I survived 13 Christianity.
14 We are the ones who practise the 15 culture of our people. We practise the spirituality 16 of our people here. This is why we're here today, to 17 help speak for the –- for the animals and the birds. 18 As I listen to the old people tell the
19 stories of long ago, the creation stories of how 20 everything was created years ago, they were created 21 from the people. Everything was created from the
22 people by Xe'las, the changer. 23 This is what we were taught when I was 24 young, and how they're all our relatives and we have 25 to protect them. And this is the way we look at life.
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1 And the things that are happening 2 today with our environment, it’s sad to say, I’m glad 3 I'm as old as I am not to see what the future's going 4 to bring because it doesn’t look very promising if we 5 continue doing what we’re doing with all the things 6 that are going on.
7 We know that the big ships, we know 8 that the coal trains, the coal boats and everything is 9 affecting everything with us. 10 Basically, we're here to speak for 11 everything in mother earth. That’s who we are, 12 protecting her creations for us. 13 As I listen to the old people tell the
14 stories of qwe’lhol mechen or the blackfish or the 15 killer whale and how we relate to the Salish Sea 16 because -- it’s a long story. 17 But there's young man he was at wharf 18 and he went down into the water following the black
19 fish down into the water. And when he got down in the 20 water he saw the other black fish and they were taking 21 off their gear and they were people that lived under
22 the water. 23 And asked him, "What are you doing 24 here? You don’t belong here. Go back to where you 25 come from".
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1 Well, eventually he fell in love with 2 a young lady that lived down there. He went back and 3 he told his granny what he saw and how he fell in 4 love. 5 And she says, "Yes, go, my grandson. 6 Enjoy your life".
7 From that day on, him and his 8 girlfriend lived under the water and they had 9 children. 10 This is how we relate to the 11 blackfish. That’s how we relate to the blackfish. 12 The old people had stories of how everything was 13 created. We have stories of the star people. We have
14 stories of the people that live under the ice. We 15 have the stories of the people that live in the 16 mountains. We have many stories of Creation that we 17 still tell to the young people today, and we have to 18 respect everything on mother earth, because if you
19 don’t respect it, we could lose it. We could lose it. 20 We tell the story of the salmon woman. 21 The salmon woman gave up her children to feed the
22 people, and then one day the people were starving and 23 she fed the people with her children. Told her 24 children to go up the river and make their beds. One 25 day she overheard somebody say, fish again, I don’t
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1 like fish. That’s all we ever eat around here is 2 fish. The salmon woman became offended. So she 3 wounded up her children and away she went. The people 4 started dying off again. 5 Overall, after she came back, they 6 convinced her to come back. The people promised her
7 that they would never ever let anybody say that to her 8 again. That’s why we honour the salmon every year. 9 We honour the first salmon. We honour her children. 10 And this is the way we teach the young people. You 11 never supposed to say ”I don’t like that” because your 12 food can be very easily taken away from you. So, 13 these are just a few little summarized stories that I
14 learned from my elders years ago. 15 I learned from my grandfather born in 16 1890. I learned from my grand uncle born in 1889. 17 These were my teachers that I learned from, and I 18 listened very carefully to those old people talk, how
19 we have to protect everything, protect everything 20 because our people taught conservation all the time. 21 You have to have conservation in order to keep things
22 alive in this world today. It’s not just this. You 23 have to have conservation. 24 Like I was saying earlier this 25 morning, we are fishermen, yes, we are commercial
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1 fishermen, but if it weren’t for these commercial 2 fishermen, these people also take care of us 3 culturally and spiritually. Anything that ever 4 happens in our nation, the fishermen provide food for 5 our tables. They feed all the people, the clams, the 6 ducks, the fish, the -– everything. They provide food
7 for all of our people. Keeping our culture and our 8 spirituality alive, this is who we are. We still have 9 people that practice our culture very strongly, and we 10 – and yet people don’t know about. We’re trying to 11 fight the image of the stereo type Indian, the kind 12 you see on TV, the ones riding the horses with the war 13 bonnets. That’s not us as coast Salish. We have our
14 own culture. We have our own history. But, we try 15 and break that image of the cartoons. Even ”I love 16 Lucy” will talk about them Indians on there. Some of 17 you might remember I love Lucy. I don’t know if you 18 are that old or not.
19 But as things go along, we have to 20 kind of break that image of who we are as a people. 21 We have strong teachings of our people being handed
22 down to our young people today. Our young people are 23 very strong, our languages are coming back. Even 24 though what happened to our people in them boarding 25 schools and them church schools, we’re coming back
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1 very strong. So –- but these are just a few of the 2 things that I observed in life, that things that have 3 to be made aware of, like when you make a judgment, 4 think of your grandchildren and your great 5 grandchildren. What’s going to be there for them when 6 they grow up? What are they going to have? What are
7 they going to eat? Where are they going to go? So 8 many things are dying off. You have to think about 9 that. I’m just here to make you aware of what the 10 future brings. I’m just putting it into words but 11 it’s true. Now you have to remember what’s going to 12 happen in the future, because anything that happens 13 with the pipelines and with the big ships and things
14 like that, things are going to happen. There is going 15 to be qkses, there’s going to be boats capsized, there 16 is going to be leaks, there is going to be whatever. 17 That’s all going to pollute our waters. That’s all 18 going to kill everything in the water. Keep those
19 things in mind. Kind of a harsh thing to say, but as 20 I listen to my elders talk, years ago, White man 21 beware when we start to die, you’re next. When we
22 start to die, you’re next. That’s what I was hearing 23 those old people say years ago. And we’re fast soon 24 approaching that. Just my observation in 74 years. 25 So think about these things when you make a judgment,
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1 what’s going to happen in your future and the future 2 of your families. It’s not just us but each and every 3 one of you in this room here, it’s going to affect 4 you. Because, with these few words I would like to 5 say. 6 (Speaking native language).
7 ELDER R. SOLOMON: My name is Richard 8 Soloman, Indian name is (indiscernible). Maybe we 9 will share a little bit of our culture. This is the 10 only thing that is going to save us. We have to share 11 what we know. What was -– what was taught to us, the 12 way we lived, how we live. We just want to fish where 13 our grandparents fished, on the same beaches that they
14 slept on, camp where they camped. () you know those 15 days of memory, memory, memories of the Salmon People. 16 This is our whole life, the Salmon People. Salmon 17 lead journeys to the ocean, struggling. For years he 18 goes out to the ocean.
19 And in his fourth year he struggled to 20 come back home. By his great memory alone does he 21 know where he comes from. This is how we are as
22 Indian people, we’re supposed to be -- this is how we 23 relate ourselves to the Salmon People. This is how 24 we’re supposed to remember who we are, where we come 25 from. But the salmon has the greatest memory of all
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1 because he knows where his home is. He journeys home 2 with a struggle, struggle in life. Journeys up the 3 river, struggle in life. Struggling. He struggles 4 for four years, struggles in life. And by his memory 5 alone he finds his way home, just like all Indian 6 people are. This is the way we are, we know where our
7 home is. And after the Salmon People find their way 8 back home, they give up their lives so their people 9 can live. That’s the way we are. That’s how we feel. 10 That’s how we were taught. That’s how we were raised. 11 Give up our lives for our family. 12 Everything we do is related to the 13 animal people. This is who we learn from. We’re not
14 the ones in charge of this earth. Animal people are. 15 We’re -- this is where we learned all of our knowledge 16 from the animal people. Just give you an insight a 17 little bit on how we look at things. The first people 18 on this earth was the grass. Earth. Tree. Second
19 people was all the animal. Third people was the human 20 being. I tell you a little story about the human 21 beings, the arrival of the human beings. All the
22 animals are gathered in the mountains one time. 23 Meeting the creator. Creator was carving up the earth 24 for the arrival of the human being. He said ”I think 25 I’ll make this river straight, straight down from high
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1 in the mountain. I’ll make this river straight down 2 to the ocean, all the water run down. All the snow 3 melt, water runs down. All the animals were quiet for 4 awhile and crow, you know, he always talking all the 5 time, he never quit. He spoke up and said ”no, 6 great creator, you can’t make this river straight.” oh
7 great creator answers, oh yes I can, I can make this 8 river straight if I want. I’m the all-great creator. 9 And (indiscernible) says creator, you make this river 10 straight is – when the human being as arrive they will 11 look down the river and see what’s going on down in 12 the mouth of the river. You have to make this river 13 crooked so the human beings can’t see. Just a little
14 story about who we are, the way we think about things, 15 how we were raised. It’s real simple. That’s why 16 human beings can’t see around the corner. Just give 17 you an example of how we were raised, how we were 18 taught, ways of life. Not too much more I can add
19 from what our Chief said, he said oh mother earth and 20 great (indiscernible). (speaking native language). 21 OSIEM.
22 ELDER MORRIS: And next we have –- 23 excuse me. We have a video from our chairman, 24 Jeremiah Julius. 25 Pardon us while we fix the technical
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1 feed to the video. 2 THE CHAIRPERSON: We’ll wait. That’s 3 okay. 4 --- Pause 5 --- Off-record discussion / discussion officieuse 6 THE CHAIRPERSON: So I think we have a
7 bit of a technical glitch here. We’ll try to sort it 8 out at the break. I have watched the video, because 9 you sent it to us and it’s going to be on the 10 registry, so, if you could just –- sorry, have we 11 solved it? 12 Okay. So apparently, it’s a different 13 video from the one you sent us, that you have now?
14 ELDER MORRIS: We actually have three 15 videos. One from our chairman, one from a fisherwoman 16 that’s testifying, and one from Q 13 that covered news 17 coverage on our ceremonial feeding of (indiscernible) 18 which I think the panel would find very inspiring.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. So the one I 20 saw was the gentleman talking about all the seeing of 21 the whales that you have seen in one year.
22 ELDER MORRIS: No, that was not 23 chairman Julius. 24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. I think you 25 should go on with your presentation and we will try at
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1 the break to have this sorted out. Thank you. 2 ELDER MORRIS: We agree. Thank you. 3 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON: Good afternoon, 4 Lawrence Soloman, Lummi Nation. (Indigenous language 5 spoken). 6 I just want to thank each and every
7 one once again, thanking you for allowing us some time 8 to share one of the things I wanted to talk about is 9 our culture and our perspective. Talking about our 10 relationships, our relationship to each other, like me 11 having a relationship with each of you, all of our 12 relationship. My relationship with my extended 13 relatives that are here. That we all have roles and
14 responsibilities in our families. We even have a role 15 and responsibility to ourselves. 16 When we have –- when we take care of 17 ourself, our minds and our body and our spirit, and 18 when we work with our families together, with
19 (indiscernible), with (indiscernible), with one heart, 20 one mind, one spirit, for the work that’s going to 21 take place, that we have these things. So, my
22 relationship to my relative here as being younger she 23 is the elder or my relationship to my UXALAH over 24 here, our hereditary Chief. We all have a 25 relationship. And that what I’m getting to is that we
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1 all have a relationship with our mother earth. Each 2 and every one of us here have a relationship with 3 mother earth. That we’re all here on this earth 4 together, that we have a relationship to mother earth, 5 to take care of her, do the best we can to take care 6 of what we have. And when we take care of ourselves
7 and our mind and our body and our spirit, we have our 8 roles to each other. We have our roles to the mother 9 earth. And we’re taking care of our roles and our 10 responsibilities. In our communities, in our 11 families, and in this world that will have love –- 12 will have love for one another. We’ll have trust for 13 one another. We’ll have responsibility to one
14 another. And kindness and working as a family, and 15 we’ll have humility. No one has better than the 16 other. 17 I just wanted to talk a little bit 18 about our relationship that we have together, us, as
19 human beings to our mother earth. Now, I also wanted 20 to talk about our cultural guidance that we have. 21 When we make our decisions, when we make our decisions
22 as a tribal council, we don’t have the same values. 23 We have values that are the same, we have common 24 values that are the same, but, as tribal people, we 25 have our morals and our values as people. Morals and
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1 values as a person, ourselves. Morals and values as a 2 family, and our nation, to take care of our mother 3 earth. 4 The decisions that we make today, they 5 impact tomorrow. What I’m talking about is maybe let 6 yourself, you may be grandparents, maybe have
7 grandchildren. That you know, me as a young 8 grandfather, I think of my grandson, my granddaughter, 9 what are they going to have when they grow up? Are 10 they going to be able to experience the same thing as 11 I did? When I was younger, I grew up -- I was very 12 fortunate to grow up by the beach and our beach was 13 our playground. When the tied is out – tide is out
14 the table is set. 15 What we say here in Indian country. I 16 used to be able to go down to the beach and dig clams 17 and used to be able to go down to the beach and 18 harvest oysters. We used to – and we used to – so
19 today we have challenges, the challenge of pollution 20 to our environments, and this is what I’m talking 21 about is our relationship in, how we get to make our
22 decisions the way we make them today. Everything is 23 connected, one way or another. Even us. We’re 24 connected, one way or another. 25 I’m really thankful to stand with our
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1 brothers and sisters today, our extended relatives 2 from the other nations, from the other tribes, really 3 thankful that we stand strong together, support one 4 another, taking care of one another. And our nations, 5 we’re able to have these trusts, love, kindness, trust 6 worthiness and responsibilities to each other.
7 I just wanted to say a few words and 8 echo the same words that my uncles here, to have a 9 NOTSOMAH () (indiscernible) for the work that will 10 take place. One heart, one mind, one spirit. For the 11 ones that swim under the water, for the plants, the 12 plant people, for all the ones, the four legged, the 13 ones that walk on the earth, and the ones that fly in
14 the air, the fish, the plants, the four legged, the 15 birds, these are all our relatives. These are all our 16 connections that we have. And you will see the impact 17 that things have on our environment, not good impacts 18 for our environment. Not good impacts for our future
19 generations, the ones that are following behind us. 20 Just really thankful for this time. Thank you for 21 listening to my words (speaking native language).
22 ELDER MORRIS: Raynell Morris, Lummi 23 Nation. I appreciate the opportunity to spare. Lummi 24 Nation is a sovereign nation. We are here with other 25 sovereigns. Tsleil-Watuth, Tulalip, Swinomish,
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1 Suquamish, we’re sovereign. A lot of different 2 relationship than perhaps your panel has had the 3 opportunity to hear testimony of. We have the right 4 to be at the table and we appreciate sitting with you. 5 Our message today is on the Roberts Bank Terminal 2, 6 we do not give you our consent today. The impact that
7 it will have on our people, we harvest at the mouth of 8 the Fraser River () orcas, our relatives under the 9 water, feed those same Chinook that come from the 10 Fraser River. We have a sacred obligation to our 11 people, to protect these resources, to protect our 12 relatives, to feed our people, both that walk on land 13 and those that live under the water. This project and
14 any stressor on the Salish Sea, we cannot give 15 consent. It’s too much. (indiscernible) we draw the 16 line. We’re asking for a cumulative impact study to 17 be done so we know what these stressors are. Stop the 18 bleeding. Let’s figure it out. It needs to be the
19 science along with the cultural, spiritual part 20 components of this cumulative impact study. We 21 congratulate the Canadian government. A week ago you
22 announced through D FO that you have a program now 23 that you will be feeding orcas. There will be a 24 million juveniles released from the Chilliwack 25 hatchery. HISHKA. Good start jierks HISKA. More to
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1 happen, right. And in the U.S., our Canadian 2 government as a federal trustee, Noah, the national 3 oceanic arm of the federal government, just contacted 4 two days ago, Lummi Nation, answered our call. We 5 have been calling out to them as (indiscernible) has 6 been calling for help. They have agreed to come sit
7 at the table with Lummi Nation and do a pilot project 8 for a sustainable feeding of qwe’lhol mechen until the 9 Sea recovers to feed our people and feed qwe’lhol 10 mechen. () we appreciate these efforts. Ate a 11 beginning. Our ancestors told us recently on the 12 beach when we did ceremony, there is hope. Hope for 13 the Salish Sea, hope for qwe’lhol mechen, hope for the
14 salmon, which is hope for us, for the Lummi people, 15 for other Indian people sitting here, for you. There 16 is hope. But we must do this work together. This is 17 a great start. We appreciate this. But I think what 18 would have been important as a testimony from one of
19 our fisher women, that drive it -- you know, that her 20 family and her children are fishers, is when a 21 container ship went by, the wave was so large it came
22 over the back of their Seine boat. I’m not sure if 23 you are familiar with the different sizes of boats. 24 It’s 60 feet. They were in dour less. There were 25 three fishing boats nearby, watching this wake from
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1 this container ship come to them. Luckily, they were 2 experienced and they knew how to turn their boat. We 3 didn’t lose anybody but we could have. What the 4 increased vessel traffic does to qwe’lhol mechen, it 5 impacts their ability to hunt and forage. They are 6 already starving. That additional noise, they are
7 going to get sicker and sicker. They get sicker and 8 sicker, we get sicker and sicker. 9 We have an opportunity to do good work 10 together. Lummi Nation wants to work with you but at 11 this point, there is no consent. 12 Hy'shqe. 13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much
14 for your presentation and testimonies. We have 15 questions. And if you allow me, we’ll start our 16 questions with Dr. Levy. 17 MEMBER LEVY: Good afternoon and thank 18 you very much for making the trip from the States to
19 give your presentation to our hearing today. You call 20 yourselves Salmon People and I’ve heard many tribes 21 around the Salish Sea call themselves Salmon People so
22 you obviously have a very profound relationship with 23 salmon. Salmon are a big concern. We’re doing our 24 assessment on salmon very close to Roberts Bank. It’s 25 a very important habitat.
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1 And out of the five species of salmon, 2 they make the greatest use of those areas as 3 juveniles. So, I would like to ask you about Chinook 4 salmon which you call King salmon. Is there a fishery 5 for Chinook salmon? 6 ELDER MORRIS: If I may the Lummi
7 Nation has two hatcheries. We have the Lummi bay 8 hatchery and the Skookum hatchery where we raise 9 Chinook and release over 400,000 Chinook annually for 10 our people to harvest and for qwe’lhol mechen. If I 11 may call on Richard Soloman as a fisherman he works 12 with the commission to talk about the Chinook. 13 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Yes. We have a
14 fishery and we’re practising right now 15 (indiscernible). Not too much (inaudible) we haven’t 16 fished in 40 years (inaudible) I hope it will go 17 again. We have been working with the tribe and the 18 state and the government to -- we have been radio
19 tagging them and trying to find out, information you 20 find out about the radio tags we put on them, winter 21 and eagle (?) and 8 more went to someone else
22 (indiscernible) it tells you what’s going on in the 23 family. These salmons are an endangered species too 24 in our river. 25 MEMBER LEVY: I don’t remember who
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1 talked about harvesting salmon near the Fraser River, 2 but I would like to ask, is that in Canadian waters or 3 in American waters? 4 ELDER R. SOLOMON: American waters. 5 MEMBER LEVY: American waters. 6 ELDER R. SOLOMON: We do harvest from
7 Fraser River King fish. 8 MEMBER LEVY: Traditionally, in days 9 gone by, did you harvest right in the Fraser River? 10 ELDER R. SOLOMON: No because of the 11 line of (indiscernible). We used to be able to go 12 right up the Fraser. Now we can’t because there is a 13 new line. Sad now.
14 MEMBER LEVY: Right. I gather you 15 have very long-term perspective because the line went 16 in in 1867. 17 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Why. Grandma 18 talked about tan told 120R rise about the line. The
19 line was put in. Used to have great parties, dough 20 side where they want to live, our own relative. This 21 is the story of my family (indiscernible). They
22 decide where they want to live. They want to live in 23 White Rock, or do we want to live in Vancouver Island. 24 They decide where they wanted to live. So grandma 25 said they had big, big parties, everybody crying they
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1 want it choose where they live. 2 MEMBER LEVY: We had a Chief from 3 Semiahmoo here last week and he told us about how the 4 Semiahmoo people are living within the Lummi 5 community. 6 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Yes.
7 MEMBER LEVY: So I’m going to ask you 8 a very challenging question. Basically, how do we 9 integrate the world view of the Lummi, incorporating 10 your traditional knowledge, with that of scientific 11 knowledge. 12 And the example I’m going to give has 13 to do with the orcas, which you’ve also mentioned you
14 have a very strong association with, and right here, 15 we have this beautiful carving that you brought with 16 us today, and I think it’s telling us that this is 17 incredibly important to your people and your culture. 18 So, orcas are endangered. The
19 American government under the EPA has classified them 20 as endangered and the Canadian government under the 21 Species at Risk Act have classified them in danger,
22 but there is very strong concern, not only within the 23 aboriginal community, but within all -- people from 24 all backgrounds want to recover this population. 25 There is a tremendous amount of scientific work that’s
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1 going on in the state of Washington and in B.C., but 2 many parties, including the Port of Vancouver who are 3 very actively engaged in research on southern resident 4 killer whales. 5 So the question is how can we ensure 6 that your perspectives and your traditional knowledge
7 becomes meaningfully integrated with western 8 scientific knowledge? 9 ELDER MORRIS: Well, it’s written in 10 your law, the consultation requirement, and, as a 11 sovereign, that’s required. But also, with 12 international law, it’s required with the Crown, 13 sovereign to sovereign. So we do already have that
14 established; we have a seat at the table. But what 15 needs to happen today in exercising, you know, that 16 relationship, we don’t want it to just be legal but we 17 also want it to be positive so that we can do the work 18 together moving forward.
19 There is a way, we believe, that 20 science can be parallel with our culture and with our 21 spiritual ways. One can’t be without the other moving
22 forward to save Mother Earth; we recognize that. But 23 one can’t be without the other. 24 ELDER R. SOLOMON: We can’t do this by 25 ourselves. We need your help. That’s what we’re
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1 asking for. 2 MEMBER LEVY: Right. I think everyone 3 agrees and the Swinomish and the Tulalip also said 4 that we have to work together. It’s a very big 5 challenge for us. 6 MR. R. SOLOMON: We'll keep trying.
7 Never give up on mother earth. Don’t ever give up on 8 her. 9 The rich people this are the one whose 10 are ruining this earth. Corporate people. Big money. 11 That’s what ruins it. Sorry to say. That’s the way I 12 see it, you know. 13 MEMBER LEVY: Go ahead.
14 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Corporate people 15 they move in and wipe out their -– all the wood, all 16 the wood along the river and they just leave, you 17 know. Wipe out the habitat. Man is not the one in 18 charge of this earth. Our creator is. You heard the
19 story I told my grandmother tell me that story about 20 the days in the life (inaudible). 21 MEMBER LEVY: Those are all my
22 questions and I just want to thank you again for 23 coming here today. 24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Dr. Levy, 25 now I would ask Dr. Steyn for his question, please:
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1 MEMBER STEYN: And I thank you for 2 your stories. You have told us of one incident of a 3 Seine boat being capsized by a wave from a ship and I 4 acknowledge that one. I’m rather interested also in 5 the possibility that the waves come to the shore and 6 erode your cultural artefacts. The waves on the
7 shoreline. Could you talk a little bit about that in. 8 ELDER MORRIS: Just a correction for 9 the record. The Seine boat didn’t capsize. It was a 10 threat and the water came over the boat but did not go 11 under or capsize but it was a dangerous situation 12 nonetheless. 13 MEMBER STEYN: I’m glad. I miss took
14 the story. 15 ELDER MORRIS: Yes. We did not lose 16 anyone. 17 MEMBER STEYN: Good. 18 ELDER R. SOLOMON: The waves have
19 power. Water is very powerful. Carve homes in the 20 rock. That’s how we made our anchor (inaudible) is 21 water. Water is very powerful.
22 ELDER MORRIS: And you are correct 23 with the wave action. There are many shoreline 24 studies that prove its container sheds and ferries and 25 leisure boats and any activity on the water creates
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1 that erosion on the shorelines and in fact, there are 2 examples of you know, our ancestors being exposed, 3 particularly in the San Juan Islands, and cherry point 4 in Lummi Nation territory. With that, so thank you 5 for raising that. That is of great concern. 6 MEMBER STEYN: Thank you very much.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: I would like to 8 leave here with something I can carry with me for the 9 rest of my life and I would like to know what it means 10 when you say Hy'shqe? 11 ELDER MORRIS: Thank you. 12 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Thank you. 13 THE CHAIRPERSON: So I have one word
14 from your language that I will remember. You know 15 where we learned that from? Hy'shqe. The upper 16 hands. 17 THE CHAIRPERSON: You have to raise 18 your hands? Thank you.
19 ELDER R. SOLOMON: We got that from 20 match, crab. The elders were sitting on the beach 21 cooking crab one time. They cooked the crab alive and
22 the elders got full so they let the crab go. So 23 Hy'shqe. They scurry out and one came back and 24 Hy'shqe, that’s where we got it from. Real simple. 25 How we learn to talk to the animals. He taught us.
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1 Taught us everything that we know. So Hy'shqe siam. 2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you for this 3 lovely story. 4 I have one question. We heard from 5 the Semiahmoo people that you have gone back to using 6 current reef net fishery, and I would like to know the
7 process that you went through to re-establish that, 8 and if it was done in conjunction with the state 9 authority for fisheries? Is it a success now? I 10 would like to have more details about what happened 11 when -– because I believe some people had lost you 12 know, the possibility of doing that type of fishery, 13 and now it is back and I would like to had your a
14 little bit more about it, please. 15 ELDER MORRIS: Madam Chair, if I could 16 ask Dr. Kurt Russo with the Lummi Nation to answer 17 that. He has done extensive work. He is our 18 historian.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes, please come 20 ahead. Please sit down with the microphone. 21 DR. RUSSO: Good afternoon.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Good afternoon and 23 welcome. 24 DR. RUSSO: Thank you. Yes. I’m Dr. 25 in history and 40 years with the Lummis. And reef
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1 netting is something that’s been of course part of 2 their tradition for a very long time. There was a 3 very famous case, US verses Washington -– perhaps you 4 heard of it. Which established or rea reaffirmed some 5 Treaty fishing rights. And in that bolt decision it 6 said the reef net sites were included in that
7 decision. So in effect, the reef net sites were 8 property rights of the tribes in the bolt decision. 9 If you were to see a map, for example, of the vessel 10 traffic that’s proposed for Roberts Bank, if you were 11 to see the map of some of the islands it’s passing 12 through, they are dense with red dots with ancient 13 reef net sites, under the water. Now, recently -–
14 which Raynell had mentioned, the Lummi will be 15 operating a reef net site there on top of an ancient 16 one. And that’s in the aquatic reserve run by the 17 property natural resource. So it’s going to be 18 established as an educational reef net site on touch
19 an ancient one. As I have been told, the reef net is 20 a female in symbolism. And the way that it is placed 21 in the water mirrors the order of families on the
22 shore line. That’s what we were told. 23 One last thing if I may say, the reef 24 nets are connected by intangible properties. So, 25 Madam Chair, if I may, you are sitting this, I’m
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1 sitting here, two objects and between us is a 2 nonmaterial intangible property. That’s the one 3 that’s important. We create that moment of 4 importance. In –- and the same thing with the reef 5 net sights creating moments of importance being the 6 shoreline, the water, the salmon and the killer whales
7 they are all connected it each other. So the reef net 8 isn’t just about catching fish, you could say they are 9 dream catchers. Just a little bit about the reef net. 10 Does that answer your question? 11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes, thank you. 12 ELDER R. SOLOMON: Just a little bit 13 more on the reef net. The way –- the way we were
14 taught you know, tell you a story about my 15 grandfather. Born in 1732. This is the story of his 16 reef net told to me by my grandparents. He said when 17 Justin came out and set his reef net he was the first 18 one to set the reef net. They go one by one, you
19 know, there were lots of them then. It was earned by 20 the Indian people. Gift. Gift to the Indian people. 21 The gift was sacred because when that gift come, it
22 was given to him, showed him how to do it, the voices 23 he heard, the creator talking to him. That’s how we 24 learn, learn all our gifts, from the creator. That’s 25 how we’re told. Like today we gather around in sacred
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1 circles today and open with prayer and opened up with 2 a song. Our creator is listening to us talk now so we 3 have to be careful how we talk, not harm any people, 4 just talk good about everything that there is in this 5 life. 6 Hy'shqe siam.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. I would 8 like now to take a 15-minute recess so we can try to 9 solve the technical problem, please. We would love to 10 see the videos. Thank you. So we’ll come back 20 11 to 3. Thank you. 12 --- Upon recessing at 1425 / Suspension à 1425 13 --- Upon resuming at 1441 / Reprise à 1441
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Are you waiting for 15 more people to come to your table? Thank you. So, I 16 believe we sorted out the technical problem, so please 17 go ahead. 18 ELDER MORRIS: This is a video message
19 from the Lummi Nation, Chairman Jeremiah Julius: 20 --- Video presentation 21 CHAIRMAN JULIUS: Hello, my name
22 is Jay Julius, chairman of the 23 Lummi Nation, traditional name 24 (indigenous language spoken). I 25 am the chairman and also a
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1 fisherman. I have fished these 2 waters of the Salish Sea for more 3 than 40 years. Just as my 4 father, my grandfather and 5 hundreds of generations before. 6 The Lummi Nation is in a position
7 of no on the Roberts Bank 8 project. A strong no. And for 9 many reasons we are in that 10 position, but, we have a sacred 11 obligation to protect, to 12 preserve and to promote our Xa 13 xalh Xechnging.
14 And as we take a hard look at 15 where we are today, one must take 16 that look with us to understand 17 why we’re such a firm no. We 18 have witnessed the depletion of
19 salmon in rivers which you could 20 once walk across on the backs of 21 salmon. The Salish Sea filled
22 and alive with orcas and salmon, 23 pre-contact, even at the time of 24 the signing of the Treaty in 25 1855.
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1 Where we are today, we are in 2 critical times. The orcas are in 3 times right now that we can’t 4 even begin to fathom. They are 5 starving. What they have known 6 since the beginning of time,
7 probably never having a word for 8 famine just as Lummi does not 9 have a word in their language for 10 famine, they are experiencing 11 that today, because of us. 12 Because of what we’ve done and 13 what we’ve allowed and what we’ve
14 witnessed to take place here, in 15 the Salish Sea, on the Salish 16 Sea, and in the surrounding 17 areas. 18 Before the Treaty we didn’t
19 know of any border. Today, we’re 20 in very tough times, just as all 21 those within the Salish Sea. And
22 it is all of our obligation to 23 make sure that the decisions we 24 make today are looking into the 25 future, acknowledging what we
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1 have witnessed and what we have 2 done in the past, and we say 3 (indigenous language spoken) we 4 draw the line. No more. We need 5 moratorium on stressors to the 6 Salish Sea. We need to fix the
7 wrongs that we have done in the 8 past before we can move forward 9 with development. 10 We thank you. We thank you 11 for allowing us to share a little 12 bit of our history, a little bit 13 of where we are coming from as a
14 community, as a sovereign, as a 15 people, a people of the Salish 16 Sea. We thank you for your 17 consideration of our words, our 18 feelings, and as our elders say,
19 we must take a journey, the long 20 journey from here, down to here. 21 That is imperative if we want a
22 future for our children and want 23 them to experience what we’ve 24 learned here today. 25 Hy’shqe from Lummi Nation. Thank
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1 you. 2 ELDER MORRIS: And the second video is 3 a Q13 news video of our ceremonial feeding of qwe lhol 4 mechen. We have had a couple of the ceremonial 5 feedings and we are going to do the next next week. 6 --- Video presentation
7 FEMALE ANCHOR: Southern resident 8 orcas continue to dwindle. In 9 fact, there’s only 75 left. This 10 month, Lummi tribe leaders 11 released a single chinook salmon 12 into the Salish Sea as a 13 spiritual offering to the
14 starving whales. This is a 15 message to government leaders 16 that more needs to be done to 17 save them from extinction. 18 MALE ANCHOR: These sacred
19 traditional ceremonies are very 20 private but this time the Lummi 21 Nation invited a select group of
22 journalists to bear witness, and 23 our own Simone Del Rosario was 24 there. 25 REPORTER: It’s seven o'clock in
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1 the morning here at Squalicum 2 Harbour in Bellingham. We’re 3 about to go on the water all day 4 with Lummi Nation. We’re going 5 to go feed some orcas. Hi, nice 6 to meet you.
7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you 8 going on this boat? 9 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It will be 10 crowded but it will be good. 11 REPORTER: As Lummi elders head 12 west on a Lummi law enforcement 13 boat, we journalists follow on a
14 King county research vessel. 15 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I want to 16 thank each and every one of you. 17 My hands go up to you. Hy'shqe 18 siam.
19 (Drumming). 20 REPORTER: Council member 21 Lawrence Soloman leads the day
22 which Lummi national anthem. The 23 Lummis are from the northernmost 24 part of Washington State. The 25 Salish Sea is their home and they
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1 call the southern resident orcas 2 their relatives. 3 SPEAKER: They're our Shia(ph). 4 Shia(ph) in our language means 5 elder sibling. They take care of 6 us and we take care of them. And
7 the customs and the rituals that 8 we have tie us together. 9 REPORTER: Like today. As we 10 pull up to a cove near Henry 11 Island, they tell us, cameras 12 off. And that was the last thing 13 we could show you. Lummi leaders
14 went on to the beach to take part 15 in a sacred ceremony. From a 16 distance we could see and hear 17 them around the fire, but we were 18 only allowed to witness it with
19 our own eyes. 20 Then, it was time to release 21 a fish. A single Chinook salmon,
22 a symbolic offering to the 23 starving southern resident orcas. 24 I reflected on all I had seen 25 as we neared English Camp on San
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1 Juan Island. I don’t speak 2 Lummi, we don’t communicate the 3 same way. 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 5 (indigenous language spoken). 6 REPORTER: But on land, the
7 elders explained the urgency they 8 felt in sharing their story and 9 why they invited us. 10 CHAIRMAN JULIUS: What happens to 11 the Salish Sea inevitably will 12 happen to us. 13 REPORTER: That’s Jay Julius, the
14 Chairman of Lummi Nation. 15 CHAIRMAN JULIUS: We’re running 16 out of time, and I know we have 17 efforts from the state, from the 18 governor, from committees, task
19 force, but the message needs to 20 get out. 21 REPORTER: That the southern
22 resident orcas, the Lummi’s 23 relatives under the water, need 24 more salmon to survive. The 25 Lummis remember when the orcas
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1 swam 200 strong. Now, just 75 2 remain. 3 CHAIRMAN JULIUS: We remember 4 vividly what yesterday was and 5 what pre-content was, and it’s 6 important to live in this new
7 world but at the same time 8 protect what once was. Because 9 if we don’t, then shame on us. 10 Shame on all of us. 11 REPORTER: Reporting from the 12 Salish Sea, Simone Del Rosario, 13 Q13 news.
14 ELDER MORRIS: And our final video is 15 a testimony from Ellie Kinley, a fisherwoman from a 16 long history of fishers from the Lummi Nation: 17 --- Video Presentation 18 MS. KINLEY: My name is Ellie
19 Kinley. My traditional name is 20 (indigenous language spoken) and 21 I am a Lummi tribal member. And
22 we are out here in the San Juan 23 Islands which is our homelands, 24 exercising our Treaty right to 25 fish.
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1 I have been a commercial 2 fisherman here for 30 years, and 3 I have seen quite a few changes 4 in the Salish Sea, and I am 5 concerned that some of these 6 changes are going to make it so
7 that my children’s children 8 aren’t going to be allowed to do 9 what I have done for 30 years. 10 One of my biggest concerns 11 happened last summer. It was 12 October 14th, about 2 in the 13 afternoon, we were chum fishing
14 up at the top of San Juan Island. 15 A large cargo ship that wasn’t 16 quite full passed by, and I had 17 taken a picture of it. I was 18 taking pictures of ship traffic
19 last summer. 20 And we thought nothing of it 21 and we went about our set -- and
22 it was a flat, calm, beautiful 23 day; no wind at all. And we were 24 in the process of setting up, set 25 the net out, and we're towing,
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1 and this tanker had gone by, and 2 we all looked out -- and pretty 3 much all at the same time -- saw 4 this huge 8-foot-tall wave coming 5 at us on a flat calm day. And it 6 was curling and it was white.
7 That’s what caught our eye. 8 I fish on a boat with my two 9 children, a nephew and a cousin. 10 It’s all family. And so, as a 11 mother, fear set in that there is 12 an 8-foot wave coming at us. Are 13 we going to be okay? In 30 years
14 I have never had this happen. 15 And my son is 25 years old and 16 running the boat and he handled 17 it well. He managed to get the 18 boat turned sideways so that the
19 back of this wave would hit us 20 square on, because you didn’t 21 want to be hit from the side.
22 And the wave did hit us and 23 the entire end of the boat did go 24 under water and we got quite wet, 25 but nobody got hurt and we were
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1 able to save the set. But, to 2 me, my biggest concern was nobody 3 got hurt. 4 We already deal with so much 5 ship traffic when we are fishing 6 on the border up at Point
7 Roberts, and it would be a 8 totally different situation if 9 that ship traffic actually stayed 10 in Canadian waters, but it 11 doesn’t. The Canadian ferries, 12 when they literally leave their 13 dock, they are in U.S. waters.
14 And it really concerns me 15 because, given our warm summers, 16 we are having more and more years 17 of really high diversion rate, 18 where the sockeye salmon aren’t
19 coming their usual path and 20 coming down the south end of 21 Vancouver Island where we then
22 have a chance to catch our quota. 23 We get these high diversion rate 24 years where the fish come around 25 the northern end to stay cold.
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1 They stay in the colder water. 2 And so then the only chance we 3 have of catching any of those 4 fish are in the big tides where 5 they actually blow back across 6 the border, because the mouth of
7 the Fraser River is within five 8 miles, I believe, of the border. 9 And there are quite a few years 10 where that’s the only chance we 11 have of catching any sockeye or 12 any pinks, are right there on the 13 border.
14 And a 60-foot steel vessel, 15 which is me, is tiny compared to 16 one of those cargo ships coming 17 into that terminal that’s there, 18 or one of those coal ships. And
19 they actually do disrupt our 20 fishing, which, in the first 21 place, I don’t even think is
22 right because I have a 23 Treaty-protected right to be up 24 there and to be fishing, but I’m 25 pretty sure that cargo area and
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1 the coal area don’t have 2 Treaty-protected rights to be 3 there, also. 4 I feel like holding up a 5 sign: ”I have a Treaty protected 6 right to be here. You can go
7 away." 8 ELDER MORRIS: That concludes the 9 Lummi Nation presentation. Thank you for making the 10 technical issues go away and allow us to show this. 11 ELDER R. SOLOMON: I would like to say 12 a closing word. We live in a Garden of Eden here. 13 This is ouor Garden of Eden. This is what the Bible
14 talked about. We live in a Garden of Eden. I’ll have 15 you all know that. You want to crap on it, human 16 beings want to crap on it, go ahead, you know. That’s 17 sad to say, but we live in a Garden of Eden. It use 18 to be our Garden of Eden. Thank you.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Please, before you 20 go up, I just want to ask the proponent if they have 21 questions for you?
22 MR. STEWART: Thank you, Madam Chair, 23 no, we don’t have questions. I would just like to 24 thank the representatives from Lummi Nation and 25 Suquamish tribe for being here today and for sharing
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1 their teachings. We share the concerns that they have 2 expressed regarding the health of the Salish Sea. In 3 particular we share their concerns for the black fish 4 or the killer whale and the Chinook or the King 5 salmon. 6 We acknowledge the issues and
7 interests they raised and appreciate they have taken 8 time out of their weekend to share them with us and 9 with the panel. Hy’shqe. 10 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON: Fast learner. 11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any questions from 12 the audience. Hy’shqe. 13 I would like to call now to the table
14 the representatives of the Suquamish tribe, please. 15 --- Drumming ceremony 16 PRESENTATION 17 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Thank you for the 18 the opportunity to speak to the board. My name is
19 Leonard Forsman the chairman of the Suquamish tribe. 20 My ancestral name is (indigenous language spoken), 21 which means raven, and I am also president of the
22 affiliated tribes the Northwest Indians which is in 23 our tribal organization. A hundred percent is 24 Washington, Oregon and Idaho and Alaska. 25 I’ll go ahead and have each of my
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1 panelists introduce themselves before we start our 2 formal presentation. And I would like to thank the 3 Lummi Nation for singing us in earlier and the 4 Tsawwassen people and other tribes of the area for 5 having us here on their land. So I’ll go ahead and 6 introduce. I have Nigel Lawrence introduce himself
7 and explain the song. 8 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: Thank you, Madam 9 Chair and the rest of the Panel and everybody else 10 that came today and the Tsawwassen First Nations as 11 well. 12 That song was the gathering song from 13 Suquamish. My aunt, (indigenous language spoken), Peg
14 Dean, is the one who, we say, caught that song from 15 the spirits, and it’s to let everybody know outside, 16 inside, come together, gather together, because we’re 17 about to do work, and come bear witness to this work 18 we’re about to do. I thought it was appropriate for
19 us to start off with that so that we can come together 20 and work together on this. 21 My name is Nigel Lawrence. At least
22 that’s what it says on my birth certificate. My 23 ancestral name is (indigenous language spoken), from 24 the (indigenous language spoken) family of Suquamish. 25 I am a Suquamish tribal member and elected to the
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1 Suquamish tribal council as the secretary. I’m also 2 the skipper of the Suquamish youth canoe, named 3 qal̕qaləx̌ič, meaning killer whale, and I am also with 4 the director of the Marion Forsman-Boushie Early 5 Learning Centre. 6 TREASURER LITTLE WING SIGO: Good
7 afternoon. I’m Robin Little Wing Sigo. I am the 8 treasurer of the Suquamish tribal council. I also 9 have master’s degree in social work and have done a 10 lot of work around historical trauma, healing from 11 trauma, as well as doing research projects with the 12 National Institute of Health and the University of 13 Washington, related to cultural prevention tools,
14 culture as lessons and learning. 15 ELDER SIGO: Yes, my name is David 16 Sigo. I am vice-president of the seafood board, 17 president of the fish committee. I am also an elder. 18 I’m also a fisherman for 51 years.
19 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: I would like to go 20 ahead and start with our power point that’s on the 21 screen. And that will give us a little more
22 background on our concerns regarding this project and 23 talk a little bit about our belief system and our 24 Treaty obligations and our role as elected officials 25 that take an oath to protect our Treaty rights and to
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1 protect our homelands. 2 In the first slide, I think it’s 3 important to look at the images. The first one is one 4 of our young people on the canoe journey. 5 This young man, Deshone has been on 6 every canoe journey since his birth, and once we went
7 to Bella Bella, B.C., when Heliltsuk Nation hosted the 8 canoe journey in 2014, thank you, after they hosted it 9 in 1993. A little bit about the canoe journey. 10 In 1989 it was the hundredth anniversary of the 11 centennial, or the hundredth birthday of the state of 12 Washington, being admitted to the union, and we felt 13 it was very important that the state of Washington
14 include the tribes in the hundredth birthday since it 15 was our five or 6,000th birthday. 16 So we felt like it was important to be 17 a part of that, and we finally convinced the state to 18 support the tribe’s cultural programs, cultural
19 projects and acknowledge the importance of the tribes 20 of Washington to the heritage of the state. And as 21 part of that we got logs delivered to each of the
22 tribes and we carved canoes and then there was one 23 paddle that started out on the coast and some of the 24 tribes came in and gathered at Suquamish where we’re 25 from, and travelled across the Puget Sound to Seattle,
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1 called the paddle of Seattle. Had a nice ring to it. 2 The night before we had a big 3 celebration and a man from Bella Bella came forward 4 and said in four years I would like to challenge you 5 to come to my village which is only 600 miles from 6 here. You have four years to get ready. Nigel here
7 went on that journey, and then when we returned and 8 they hosted again, 21 years after that first hosting. 9 And this young man was probably five 10 years old, maybe a little younger, one of our dancers, 11 and he was out and we had a little protocol problem on 12 the floor, and when we were up there presenting, and 13 so we had to stop everything and the young man had
14 been part of this, so we were talking to the Chief 15 about this, and he was crying and the Heliltsuk Chief 16 felt bad. And we were sitting there telling him it’s 17 okay, it’s okay. And his gramma actually came over 18 and said he is a not mad about the protocol problem.
19 He is mad because we quit dancing. He wanted to keep 20 dancing. This is an example of how our culture is 21 transmitted in our inter-travel connections. And of
22 course we stopped in places all throughout British 23 Columbia as we moved forward. And maybe Nigel will 24 have more time to talk about both journeys since he 25 went on both.
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1 And then we have a young man who is 2 now an adult with the crab and how he grew up 3 harvesting crab with his family and is a crabber now. 4 And then the third picture is of one of our hatchery 5 managers and he represents the enhancement that our 6 tribe is engaged in. The Suquamish tribe invests
7 heavily with both federal money and our own money 8 that we earn from our enterprises to invest in our 9 programs that enhance salmon. And this is a Chinook 10 salmon. We raise Chinook salmon in our hatchery and 11 release them into the wild where they come back and we 12 can harvest them. But a lot of them get harvested up 13 here. So that’s our contribution to try to restore as
14 many fish as we can to the environment. 15 And it’s important to understand that 16 we have a lot of biologists and lawyers out that we 17 hire and pay, to help enhance, protect, manage and 18 monitor the harvest and also, the habitat and
19 protecting and restoring habitat. 20 A lot of my time is spent doing the 21 type of thing we’re doing today, where we’re going out
22 and we work with other counties and cities with growth 23 management to try to contain sprawl, to protect 24 habitat for the future. We work a lot on fossil fuel 25 and extraction projects and things like that. And are
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1 trying to manage those as well, as we try to co-exist 2 as this area grows, with the marine environment. And 3 then in the fourth slide is our canoe, the (indigenous 4 language spoken) -- the sister canoe to the 5 qal̕qaləx̌ič -- on the journey. And you can see me in 6 the back there I think with sunglasses on. All right.
7 So there we are. And I’m actually pulling. 8 What’s that Nigel? Yes, that canoe 9 was actually carved at Squamish, B.C. which we are 10 closely related too and have a strong relationship 11 culturally with that tribe, and one of our carvers 12 carved that canoe. 13 All right. So a little bit about
14 Suquamish. We’re the people of the clear salt water 15 and our name comes from a place where Old Man House is 16 located, one of our winter houses. And that picture 17 of course is of Chief Seattle for whom the city of 18 Seattle was named. He was born and raised at Old Man
19 House, the dkʼʷsuqʼʷabš, which is and name of the 20 place where the Old Man House Village was. We were 21 marine travelers and we didn’t have a major river and
22 so we had to travel far and wide to gather enough fish 23 and food for winter habitation in our warehouses. 24 In 1855 we signed the Treaty of Point 25 Elliott which established the Port Madison Indian
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1 Reservation, which was a small part of our larger 2 territory, but did include Chief Seattle's home as 3 well. 4 I talked about our our travels and 5 this has been documented at Fort Langley which of 6 course is very near here. In 1827, when one of our
7 Chiefs travelled up to trade into Fort Langley -- and 8 this occurred in 1827 where, in the afternoon, arrived 9 the eldest son of the old suq̓ʷabš Chief with a slender 10 retinue for the purpose of trade. 11 And then the next day the suq̓ʷabš 12 traded upwards of 20 beaver skins and then took 13 departure. So evidence of our long journey from our
14 home near Bainbridge Island up unto as far as the 15 Fraser River. 16 So you can see some of these images of 17 how important salmon is to us. You can see some of 18 our harvesters in this picture, where we are
19 harvesting salmon and cooking over a traditional fire. 20 And an historic image up here of an elder smoking fish 21 and salmon eggs for storage for the winter harvest.
22 And more examples of our modern harvesting methods. 23 Down here in the lower right as salmon 24 has declined, crabbing has kind of -- we've had to 25 replace some of those actions because with another
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1 harvest because of the lack of the opportunity there. 2 It's important to understand that the 3 Bolte Decision in 1974, recognized and affirmed the 4 tribe's right to half of the harvestible salmon in 5 Puget Sound. In 1995, a similar decision called the 6 Rafity Decision did the same for shellfish as well, so
7 Gooey duck and crab became a very important part of 8 our harvesting opportunity as well after that. 9 So, the economics. We have about 80 10 fishermen, 160 clam diggers and Dave mentioned 11 Suquamish sea foods which is is a lot of export of 12 Gooey duck clams to China. 13 So the Suquamish usual and accustomed
14 fishing grounds include the marine waters of Puget 15 Sound, from the northern tip of Vachon island which is 16 near Tacoma to the Fraser River including Haro and 17 Rosario Straits, and the streams draining into the 18 western side of Puget Sound also the cannel. This was
19 this was the adjudication done in the Bolte Decision. 20 This is, of course, a map that was 21 provided to us and talks about the shipping lanes.
22 So, if you see the shipping that's going to be 23 increased, by this project, you can see that it will 24 have an impact on our traditional usual and custom 25 fishing areas. And some of data we’ve been able to
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1 produce from independent report, kind of gives you an 2 idea in this picture of the type of vessel traffic 3 disruption. 4 I am colour blind but I can tell 5 darker from lighter, so the red or orange -- the red 6 is very high and then the next colour is high. And
7 you can see that it overlaps with the previous slide 8 that you will be adding more to what is already a 9 difficult situation today. 10 So this is another map that talks 11 about the risk of vessel collisions per year. So 12 we're very concerned about adding more to the traffic 13 to an already bad situation. And we are really
14 concerned about the Salish Sea becoming a marine 15 superhighway and its impacts on marine fishing and our 16 traditional way of life. We think that there needs to 17 be more balance. 18 I want to talk about oil spills
19 because we’ve got a number of concerns. You’ve heard 20 these earlier; vessel traffic, vessel noise, 21 disruption of Treaty, fishing and activities which
22 you’ll hear more about. And, of course, the 23 possibility of oil spills. In 2003 there was an oil 24 spill at Point Wells here. This is near Edmonds, 25 Washington, and there was a barge being filled up at a
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1 site here in the evening, it was actually around 2 midnight. The alarms did not work. The attendant 3 didn't pay attention. He was filling out paperwork and 4 oil spilled over the top of the barge after it filled 5 up for a couple of hours, and it left a big sheen -- a 6 big deposit of oil which was floating around all night
7 in our traditional area. 8 And eventually a lot of that oil ended 9 up landing on Dow-Kag-Wats Marsh right here. In the 10 picture you can see where it says "Doe-Kag-Wats 11 Marsh". And actually this big oil deposit was 12 floating on the surface and it was almost a toothpaste 13 density. And ships actually going through the night
14 had sliced it into pieces. So some of these ended up 15 on our beach. I mean it was about 5000 gallons went 16 in there at Doe-Kag-Wats Marsh which was very 17 disruptive to the our people. 18 And then you can see here, a better
19 idea where our reservation is, Indianola and 20 Suquamish, and the north tip of Bainbridge Island and 21 Ballard is actually North Seattle. So you get a feel
22 for where we’re from. 23 So here’s Doe-Kag-Wats Marsh, it’s one 24 of the last saltwater estuaries in Puget Sound, and 25 it’s a very important place for us culturally and
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1 spiritually. And you can see the oil boom, it’s laid 2 out here. It’s picking up some of the oil that’s 3 coming into the tidal inlet here. This moves in and 4 out with the tides. And you can see some of the 5 mobilization equipment here as well. 6 And then we had the cleanup process
7 which was quite intense and heartbreaking. And I 8 actually witnessed some of the oil go in with the tide 9 and follow up the marsh as well. So this took about 6 10 to 8 months to clean the majority of it, but there’s 11 still oil on the beach today on the underside of many 12 of the rocks. 13 Have some picture of me. I didn’t
14 have any grey hair at that time, and neither did Jay 15 Inslee our present governor. He was a congressman at 16 this time, and now he’s a candidate for President of 17 the United States. And here he came out in his role 18 as United States congressman to witness what was going
19 on as far as the cleanup. 20 It happened on New Year’s Eve so it 21 was pretty cold out there. And you can see some of
22 the oil fouling some of the sea life on the beach as 23 well. 24 So that’s the conclusion of my 25 presentation, and I want to go ahead and just thank
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1 you for your patience with hearing through that, and I 2 think what we’ll do is have the rest of our panel here 3 speak regarding some of the issues that they see as 4 important, and then we can take some questions when 5 everybody is done. So thank you. 6 TREASURER LITTLE WING SIGO: My name
7 is Robin Little Wing Sigo and I’m a treasurer of the 8 Suquamish tribal counsel. I’m a mother, a daughter an 9 auntie, a mental health research and humble speaker 10 for the Salish Sea. The tides surge and swirl 11 bringing forth history, stories and new discoveries. 12 My father used to take us to the beach 13 after a big storm so we could witness what the sea had
14 unearthed. We would find treasures like pieces of 15 Japanese crates and fishing floats and just random 16 things on the beach that we’d all talk about and make 17 up stories about. But mostly, and I realize this now, 18 but it was really our chance to go clean the beach.
19 The majority of what we found was garbage, was messy 20 stuff that we needed to clean up, that we needed to 21 make sure was okay. And my dad would always tell us
22 that there was no hiding from the sea, that there was 23 no controlling it. 24 As a fisherman, he taught us to listen 25 to it, to watch it carefully, that it didn’t matter,
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1 like, you know what kind of engine you had on your 2 boat. It didn’t matter because ultimately, it’s up to 3 the sea what’s going to happen, and it’s just us. I 4 mean, we heard from Elly on the previous video, about 5 you know, her son knew what to do when those waves 6 were coming. That’s what we hope for, that’s what we
7 hope for. 8 As a fisherman’s daughter my dad would 9 leave before I woke up in the morning. I would always 10 get a little worried like what time was he coming 11 home? Did he make it home? And we would go out into 12 the living-room and he would leave his fish ticket on 13 the coffee table so we could see how many fish he
14 caught the night before. And it was great to go out 15 there and you know, see, like -- my birthday was 16 during fishing season so I would get cooler presents 17 if it happened to be a particularly good fishing year. 18 But also, there was the part of me
19 going out there just to make sure my dad was okay and 20 that had he gotten back okay. Because, there is some 21 stresses when you are a fisherman’s daughter, when you
22 have a fisherman in your family. 23 I am really struck by, you know, when 24 he told us there was no hiding from the sea it really 25 struck me, and it’s been a lot of our cultural
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1 teachings around being careful of the sea, what’s 2 going on with the sea, what’s going on with the 3 environment, that you could hear something. I woke up 4 the other morning and a tree had fallen in my 5 driveway. But, I hadn’t heard it. Like it went down 6 so quietly. It was dead and it just kind of went down
7 and got caught on other trees, so I just went outside 8 and saw it. And I was just reminded of the 9 unpredictability of it. 10 So, I was struck today, coming here 11 and having these hearings here at a golf course, 12 because it’s very design is very manicured in 13 artificial landscape. And having served on a board of
14 directors of an economic development board that 15 oversaw a golf course, I am acutely aware of the 16 science behind grass, for a golf course, and how much 17 goes into the landscaping. How much is designed for 18 player experience. And all of those pieces that, you
19 know, I’m not going to let somebody go out there when 20 the forecast is at a certain level because it’s going 21 to damage that grass and it’s going to damage it
22 forever. 23 And they respect that. The golfers 24 that come they respect that because they want that 25 too.
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1 So, you know, as I’m sitting here 2 thinking about it, and sitting here and watching what 3 happens and thinking of how protected it all is, and 4 that it’s such a controlled environment, even here 5 today, in the dining room, the dining room was 6 controlled.
7 Like my uncle was here with me and was 8 told that he had to wear a collared shirt if he wanted 9 to sit in there and have breakfast with us and we 10 chose to leave because for a lot of reasons. But it 11 made me think about how much of western culture is 12 about controlling space, and about what we can do in 13 that space.
14 And I think, like, you know, my 15 ancestors had to learn that. My grandparents had tp 16 learn that. I had to learn that. I forget the pieces 17 where -- I forget I’m wearing a ribbon skirt and I’m 18 not quite sure how people are going to respond to
19 that. And as a mental health counselor I did a lot of 20 work with people healing from trauma. And people 21 always talk about that idea of walking in two worlds.
22 The part where they don’t want to leave. The part 23 where, what armour do they put on before they go 24 somewhere? 25 And, so, when I’m thinking about the
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1 things that are going on here and when I’m thinking 2 about the sea life, when I’m thinking about aunties 3 and uncles out there on the water, fishing and up 4 against a shipping vessel that I can’t even imagine 5 the size of, compared to them, those are stressors. 6 That’s stress for me of being a kid, making sure my
7 dad made it home okay. That was real. And this feels 8 very real as well, in terms of mental health and the 9 health of the community. 10 But then it also is -- we are that 11 protection for the orcas that is are out there. We’re 12 the ones who are going to keep saying that this is a 13 problem. And I know you’ve heard it. I mean I’ve
14 heard you guys say that you share that same concern. 15 And then, Dr. Levy, I heard you talk 16 to the point of, you know, how do we make these things 17 match with the science piece of it and the cultural 18 piece of it? And I want you to know that we employ
19 over 25 scientists at our government. 20 And before we had money coming in from 21 any enterprises at all, that’s what we were putting
22 our money towards, was salmon enhancement, looking at 23 the beach. All of these things that we do, our 24 museum, our cultural centre, all of those pieces were 25 all there to get to this point; where we could come
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1 here with scientific evidence as well as cultural 2 evidence, because we believe this. 3 Our water ways are not controllable 4 like a golf course is. The impact is not coming. The 5 impact is already here. Profitability over 6 sustainability will not be tolerated by the Suquamish
7 Nation, and it will surely not be tolerated by the 8 Sailish Sea. We are going to feel the impact of it. 9 We’re feeling it now and we’re goint to continue to do 10 it. 11 We will keep coming. We will keep 12 fighting this fight because it’s that important to us. 13 We’re urging you to listen. We’re urging you to find
14 something else, instead of this. Because there is no 15 way that we can support this, knowing what’s already 16 happened and knowing what can come next, based on 17 science, based things -- when we hear our neighbours 18 at Lummi talk about, you know, being survivors of the
19 great flood, that’s a real thing. That really 20 happened. 21 We just heard -- our tribal council
22 just met with a researcher to do core samples over in 23 Doe-Kag-Wats that Chairman Forsman just showed us 24 because we know that the land has more stories to tell 25 us about that great flood, when those tsunamis came,
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1 and that’s information that we’re going to need to 2 know. We need to know how far down does that oil 3 still go? They are still telling us stories. This is 4 based in science, and our history is also based in 5 science. So I want to thank you for listening and 6 thank you for hearing me.
7 ELDER SIGO: Hi, I’m David Sigo. I am 8 the vice-chairman of seafood, president of the fish 9 committee, and also I’m an elder. I've seen results 10 from container ships and oil ships that have gone out 11 the straits, and I was a victim of part of that at one 12 time. 13 I was beating myself up going down the
14 side of this big container ship trying to figure out 15 how I was going to get away from it, and I was digging 16 around, looking for a knife or something to cut the 17 net or something, and I was more concerned about the 18 prop that was coming up.
19 I was scared. My son was scared. 20 Excuse me. 21 And I just happened to find a knife at
22 the last moment and cut the net. I was so scared for 23 my family, for all the people out there that are 24 fishing. It was pretty scary. 25 So that was my experience with these
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1 big ships. 2 I fished up there all my life, San 3 Juan Islands. I fish Eagle Point and I fished down 4 Haro Straits a lot. And I just can’t imagine what’s 5 going to happen to our people when those ships come 6 out of there.
7 I lived up there in the San Juan 8 Islands as a kid. I used to travel over there when I 9 was 12 years old by myself, just me and my boat. And 10 I used to live off the land and stay on the little 11 islands up there and spend my summer up there trying 12 to find a boat that I could get on to go salmon 13 fishing.
14 This was before the Boldt decision 15 decision, even. I wanted to be a fisherman that bad. 16 And I became one, 51 years strong. 17 And I go there every year and do the 18 same thing whether there's fish or not.
19 I just hope you guys take this in 20 consideration for our Salish people. I’m not just 21 talking for myself; I’m talking for all Salish people,
22 and also for my grandkids. 23 I have a lot of grandkids that I’m 24 concerned about, that they would be able to experience 25 what I have experienced. Hopefully not the bad stuff.
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1 Hopefully all good stuff. 2 I've clam digged, I've crabbed, I’ve 3 fished. I've done it all there around those islands. 4 And I'd hate to see them destroyed by oil because I 5 have a feeling that’s what’s going to happen and 6 hopefully in my lifetime I won’t see it.
7 I'm glad you guys are hearing what I 8 have to say. This is from the heart. 9 Thank you very much. 10 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: Madam Chair, 11 Panel members, my name is Nigel Lawrence, or EY, my 12 ancestral name. 13 Thank you again for your time. I
14 appreciate 10th day of this. We’re elected officials, 15 too, and I’ve sat on that side of the table listening 16 to public input, and so we know it can be long days, 17 especially that many. And it’s not over yet, so 18 again, thank you for your patience and for you guys
19 showing up over there, the Port people. Thank you for 20 coming and answering questions and being here. 21 I'm here to talk more about the
22 cultural side. I'm not a fisherman. I don’t have a 23 Master's in historic preservation like my chairman 24 does. I don't have a Master's in social work like our 25 treasurer does, and I don’t have 51 years of fishing.
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1 I was trying to figure out how many 2 PhDs that would equal, his 51 years of experience on 3 the water. 4 So you know, I’m next to very 5 well-educated people right here. 6 Mine is more about the cultural side,
7 the canoe journey side. I’m the skipper of the 8 Suquamish Youth Canoe, like I said. 9 Up here in Canada we get confused with 10 the Squamish Nation a lot, and we like to tease our 11 relatives up north that we are one letter better. 12 --- Laughter / Rires 13 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: I won’t tell what
14 you they say back to us. 15 I’m the skipper of the qal̕qaləx̌ič, as 16 I said, which is our Lushootseed word for the killer 17 whale. As you see from my submitted, what's it 18 called, declaration or testimony or deposition or
19 whatever we call that form, there's a story behind 20 that. 21 The first half of the canoe, it’s one
22 giant log, one giant tree split in half to make two 23 canoes. And the first canoe is Siam a-oaks, 24 honourable, respected seagoing canoe. That type of 25 canoe is a a-oaks, and Siam means respected,
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1 honourable person. Siam a-oaks is the name of that 2 canoe. 3 That was carved up here in North 4 Vancouver with our Squamish relatives, and a bunch of 5 our tribal members went up there to learn how to do it 6 because we didn’t have that knowledge back home any
7 more. And the next year we took the same crew of 8 people and that log and carved the second canoe down 9 in Suquamish. 10 And while they were carving it right 11 on our waterfront, a pod of killer whales came by and 12 were dancing around in our bay right there and singing 13 to us. And all of the carvers there knew how
14 spiritual a moment that was. We felt like they were 15 blessing our canoe for us. 16 And you know, every person there had 17 their own you know, emotional, cultural, religious, 18 dare I say, experience with those killer whales coming
19 to talk to that canoe. And so they named it 20 qal̕qaləx̌ič. They named it killer whale. And it’s 21 been on the water ever since every year.
22 I've been going on travel journeys 23 ever since the first one, as our Chairman said, in 24 1989, paddled to Seattle. And we crossed shipping 25 lanes to get from Suquamish to Seattle.
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1 We crossed ferry traffic to get over 2 there. I paddled to Bella Bella. I like to say I 3 went on a once in a lifetime trip, twice, in 1993 when 4 I was only 14 years old and then again in 2014. 5 We paddled to Campbell River. We 6 paddled here to Tsawwassen one year. And we paddled
7 right by this terminal. 8 It’s -- that’s where I learned why you 9 have -– why the terminal is so far out because it’s 10 very shallow and the tide goes out that far. I got 11 stuck on the ground and had to get out and walk for a 12 while to push our canoe further out. 13 Like I said, we paddled to Campbell
14 River for our different canoe journeys, North 15 Vancouver in 2001 when they hosted up here. Paddled 16 through the Strait of Georgia, through the Strait of 17 Juan de Fuca out on the ocean, out in the Puget Sound, 18 all over.
19 And we are always, always interfered 20 with by the giant container ships. Always interfered 21 with by the ferries.
22 They go through B.C. Ferries and 23 Washington State ferries. And we almost talk about 24 having to race them, you know, play chicken with the 25 ferries to get out of their way fast enough. The
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1 ferries go by so fast, they're clockwork. You can 2 barely get through before the next one comes. 3 You know, especially in the States 4 there's always two passing each other and when -– how 5 can we -- how fast can we cross their lane in order to 6 get out of the way. We're a small human-powered craft
7 that a -- per seine is 60 feet. Our canoe is 42 feet 8 long. And I don’t know if there's a container to fit 9 our canoe inside of, but they are huge. 10 And yeah, one time my canoe, my crew, 11 we almost got ran over by one of these container ships 12 in the fog crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and 13 going from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C.
14 And it was super foggy. We couldn’t 15 see much, but we could hear [sound effect] and we 16 couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from and 17 we couldn’t tell if we should speed up to get out of 18 the way sooner or would that just put us in the path.
19 Should we slow down to let them pass or are we 20 stopping right in front of them? 21 You know, we chose to speed up and
22 got -– went as fast as we could across the strait, 23 which is about 20, 25 miles right there. And got you 24 know, far and got to hear the [sound effect] sound of 25 that container ship and look up and see Hyundai.
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1 And when you're in Seattle, when 2 you're in Suquamish, when you're on the beach and you 3 look out, you see the containers. It's cool that you 4 can read them on the side, but you don’t know until 5 you're that close looking up at them, each one of 6 those letters are storeys and storeys tall and giant.
7 And the fog was so thick we could only see so many 8 letters at a time and had to figure out, you know, 9 Hyundai. 10 And you know, was that coming to 11 Vancouver or Victoria or Seattle or Tacoma? I don’t 12 know. But all those are places that I've paddled to 13 in our canoe.
14 You've heard "since time immemorial" 15 several times today. Our relationship to this land 16 and our relatives who are on this land and our land 17 down south is hundreds of generations long, hundreds 18 of generations strong.
19 Long after you guys have moved to a 20 different company, long after this company has 21 changed, long after you move to a different part of
22 the world or retired from whatever you're doing, we’ll 23 still be here. Our children will still be here and, 24 hopefully, hundreds of generations after will still be 25 here.
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1 And that’s our relationship to this 2 land, to this water, to the orcas, to the killer 3 whales, to the eelgrass, to the crab, to all of these 4 species here. And that’s what we’re trying to defend. 5 We’re not just -- we've said, you 6 know, conserve and save. It really feels like we are
7 here defending. We’re here, you know, in our armour 8 sometimes, it feels like, to defend the orca, to 9 defend the salmon. 10 There's an article that, you know, we 11 didn’t have -– it just came out. Seattle Times came 12 out with an article, "Hostile waters, orcas, noise". 13 It just came out. It wasn’t in time
14 for our packets, but when you get a chance, go online 15 and search for Seattle Times. 16 And I have the link. I could send it 17 to you if you want, 18 Projects.seattletimes.com/2019/hostile-waters-orcas-no
19 ise. 20 And it talks about the impact on the 21 noise of these container ships. And it mentions Port
22 of Vancouver in that article. 23 I wanted to agree with Robin Sigo, 24 Treasurer Sigo, our traditional knowledge is 25 scientific knowledge.
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1 There have been studies demonstrating 2 how accurate our traditional stories are when compared 3 to geological data, especially about floods. We have 4 stories of the great flood, songs about the great 5 flood you heard today. 6 And we can tell you how long ago and
7 how deep and that measures up back -- when we've 8 worked with geologists, they've shown that that was 9 accurate even though it was generations later. 10 You can’t have a society without using 11 trial and error, without using the scientific method. 12 You can’t survive for long without knowing how to 13 conserve species around you, how to interact with the
14 environment, how to build longhouses, how to build 15 canoes, how to be a seafaring society, how to hunt 16 whales like our neighbours do without knowing trial 17 and error. 18 We use science to learn about the
19 interdependence of the species and how we can prevent 20 overharvesting. 21 In days gone by we used science to
22 preserve and conserve wildlife. We've been telling 23 you this for generations. 24 The Suquamish Tribe employs dozens of 25 scientists pushing back in the interest of
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1 sustainability and conserving the environment. We 2 study everything we do before we cut a regulation to 3 open a fishery. 4 Tribes have chosen not to fish 5 sometimes some years in an effort to conserve fish 6 based on data, based on the science.
7 Salmon, orca, herring, halibut, crab, 8 et cetera, all of these are species and endangered 9 species are the canaries in the coal mine. We should 10 be paying attention to their health because it is a 11 measurement of the planet’s health and, ultimately, 12 our health. 13 At the bare minimum, even if we don’t
14 care about animals or the environment, we at least 15 have to acknowledge that we as humans make our 16 livelihood from this planet. Corporate profits are at 17 risk if there are no wildlife. True statement. 18 I’m not a scientist, but like any of
19 you I can Google container ship emissions or container 20 pollution and find lots of articles showing the 21 impact.
22 We drove here in a Prius today hoping 23 to be aware of our emissions. But if you do that 24 search online, you'll see how many millions of cars 25 equal one of these giant tankers. Millions of cars
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1 can equal one tanker. 2 The chart we saw earlier with the 3 incline of the container ships over the years, how 4 similar is that to the arrow going up about the 5 shrinking of the polar ice caps, the glaciers 6 shrinking, the extinction of species. I bet you it’s
7 that same angle, that same steep curve. 8 Science says that we can’t continue to 9 grow at that same rate, increase our shipping rate to 10 that same level. The arrow cannot keep going up 11 without catastrophic results, including extinction of 12 sentientt beings like killer whales, like salmon and 13 eventually, humans, us.
14 To answer your question earlier or to 15 address your question earlier about waves, I believe 16 the wind-blown waves –- wind blows waves in the same 17 direction as the wind, and when you see a rogue wave 18 coming in a different direction, we know that that’s
19 from a giant ship. Usually, like my colleague said 20 earlier, there's three or four of those together or 21 one big one.
22 You can see it travel. You can watch 23 it travel for miles just seeing this one wake go and 24 go and go nonstop. 25 When there’s wind going the same
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1 direction as the current, the waves are all going that 2 way. 3 When the wind and the current are 4 going different directions, anybody on the water will 5 tell you it gets real choppy. There's white caps, 6 there's waves going in different directions. The wind
7 one way, the current in the other, and it’s messy. 8 And then when you see a different -- a 9 wake -- a wave going in the opposite direction of the 10 wind, it’s not being blown around by the wind. They 11 interact different. 12 And when there's overlapping, they 13 make these pyramids of water that come out and get you
14 when there's waves coming from different directions. 15 I wanted our chairman with the 16 Master's in historic preservation and an archaeologist 17 for years actually digging in the soil and doing all 18 this work, I think, you know, he'd be better able to
19 explain the soil erosion that happens with waves. 20 We live in -- the ferries are a big 21 part of our life and the Bremerton to Seattle ferry
22 has to go by Bainbridge. There's a fast ferry that 23 had to slow down at a certain point because they 24 showed that it was eroding the shoreline there so 25 much.
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1 So thank you for your time. If you 2 have any questions I'd love to answer them. 3 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: I believe we have a 4 video downloaded, my understanding. Is it on here? 5 --- Video presentation 6 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: On the way
7 back from salmon homecoming we 8 saw dozens and dozens of whales, 9 killer whales. We actually first 10 saw the Victoria Clipper being 11 stopped. 12 As we were passing it we saw 13 all the people were on the deck
14 looking out on the water at 15 killer whales and then we were 16 surrounded and they were on all 17 sides. And it was magical. It 18 was amazing. They were
19 everywhere, all sides of us. For 20 miles you can see dorsal fins, 21 you can see hopping, you can see
22 the spout every once in a while. 23 We had our friend Sacred 24 Water with us that day, and they 25 sang a shong and the killer
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1 whales got closer and started 2 dancing for us and breeching 3 closer and closer to us. And 4 everybody was just in awe, amazed 5 that they were there. A it 6 really felt like they were there
7 for us. 8 Ten, twelve canoes on the 9 water that day and that many 10 Indians in one place and killer 11 whales all showed up. They were 12 sent by our ancestors, by the 13 creator to say we see you.
14 You’re doing amazing things, keep 15 up the good work. 16 In 2013 on the canoe journey, 17 on the way to Tahola we were 18 stopping in Neah Bay and it was
19 only our two Suquamish canoes on 20 the water anywhere in sight. And 21 as we got closer to the mouth of
22 Neah Bay, we saw a grey whale. 23 MS. JACKSON: When I went to go 24 pick up our pullers, they were so 25 excited they were just jumping
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1 around and all happy and they all 2 come like running to the car, 3 "Tina, Tina, guess what we saw?" 4 And they said, "There was a 5 grey whale swimming around us 6 while we were coming in".
7 There's so little whales around 8 any more that this is a real 9 powerful experience for us. 10 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: We were 11 continuing our journey into the 12 mouth and then we saw that it 13 went in to Neah Bay as well. And
14 we followed it. 15 And it kept going and it kept 16 going and it went all the way to 17 the breakwater and turned around. 18 And so we were escorted in to
19 Neah Bay by a grey whale. 20 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: As you may 21 have heard from news reports,
22 there was a very powerful day 23 when the Old Man House artefacts 24 from the Old Man House State Park 25 were returned to the Suquamish
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1 tribe. 2 We happened to get on a ferry 3 with the Burke artefacts as they 4 were returning to Suquamish and 5 we were talking to folks on that 6 journey and then the ferry
7 captain announced that there were 8 orcas swimming along the port 9 side of the Washington State 10 ferry. 11 REPORTER: It was as if the orca 12 knew something special was on 13 board.
14 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: When they come 15 in and show themselves like they 16 did today, that’s a good message 17 that we’re doing something 18 positive for the people.
19 REPORTER: Ancient artefacts 20 belonging to the Suquamish tribe 21 are lovingly welcomed home. For
22 more than 50 years, the Burke 23 Museum at the University of 24 Washington has cared for the 25 items, most excavated where the
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1 Old Man House used to stand near 2 Agate Pass. 3 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Well, we had 4 many of our elders, of course, 5 that helped to build the house, 6 and that included Chief Kitsap
7 and Chief Seattle's father. 8 I think the most important 9 thing is be proud of who they are 10 and proud of the fact that they 11 are Suquamish people and that 12 they have a rich heritage. 13 REPORTER: A heritage with a
14 tangible connection to the past. 15 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: We're well 16 aware that it’s very significant 17 to be visited on the water by 18 whales three times in one year.
19 First pulling into Neah Bay, then 20 the killer whales at -- off of 21 Seattle for the salmon homecoming
22 and then a month or so later, the 23 artefacts being escorted on the 24 ferry. 25 MS. JACKSON: We haven't had
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1 whales come to them three times 2 in one year in generations, so 3 that connection makes us feel 4 like we’re doing what we’re 5 supposed to be doing, and we want 6 to honour the killer whale for
7 acknowledging that hopefully 8 we're doing what we’re supposed 9 to be doing. 10 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: This year 11 the Suquamish Tribe is honouring 12 that, is recognizing that this 13 has happened, that the killer
14 whales and the grey whales were 15 all surrounding, we’re all 16 together out on the water. Some 17 of us have seen these. Not all 18 of us have been at all three of
19 these things, and so we wanted to 20 tell the story to our people that 21 weren’t on the water that time.
22 And so it was just unanimous 23 that everybody wanted to do it. 24 Our elders, our leaders, the 25 pullers, everybody just wanted to
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1 get together and make this 2 happen. 3 (Singing) 4 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: So I have some 5 closing comments, but I thought I'd ask if you had any 6 questions first.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: I have a few 8 questions. 9 I'd like know first from Mr. Sigo how 10 big is his ship, the one that the -– his net was 11 caught in the propeller. 12 ELDER SIGO: Well, the ship looked 13 like it was 1,000 feet long when I was out there, but
14 it was an oil tanker coming out of Anacortes and it 15 just happened to be coming right up through the middle 16 of the straits when there was about 300 fishermen out 17 there fishing at the time. 18 And he was zigzagging, trying to miss
19 the nets, and then he got tired of zigzagging and he 20 just made a direction and went straight. And I just 21 happened to be in the way, I guess. There was no
22 concern for me at all. 23 THE CHAIRPERSON: How big is your 24 boat? 25 ELDER SIGO: My boat was only 24 feet
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1 long. This thing was -- I don't know, must have been 2 1,000 or 1,200 feet long. 3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 4 I'd like to ask Chairman Forsman about 5 the presentation, a few questions on two of the 6 slides.
7 The first one is the model fishing 8 vessel collision risk with tanker traffic per year. 9 And I'd like to have more information on this study. 10 This was done only for the Suquamish 11 people or for everybody that fishes in the Salish Sea 12 from the Bellingham region, all the people we heard 13 about today?
14 There's no number on the pages. I'm 15 sorry. 16 It’s two maps. One is vessel 17 collision risk and the other one is disruption to 18 fishing. No, not this one.
19 --- Pause 20 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: That’s all right. 21 Go full screen.
22 Okay. Let’s see here. 23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes, these two. 24 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Yes. There was –- 25 the research –- these are just excerpts from that
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1 study. But that study included other tribes. 2 I’m looking for the data on that. I 3 have it. Right. It's got the three tribes listed 4 here that were -- I have some notes here. 5 All vessel traffic disruption, it was 6 the same data, fish ticket data, which are the tickets
7 that the fishermen have to submit with their harvest 8 when they sell their product from the tribes collected 9 in U.S. fishery management and there were interviews 10 with fishermen. 11 And there was –- and it's a snapshot 12 in time and may under-estimate the severity of the 13 disturbance when openings are short.
14 It was multiple tribes. 15 THE CHAIRPERSON: And on the one about 16 disruption to fishing, would that mean damage to gear, 17 changing, of course, having any accident like Mr. Sig 18 was talking about? It explains in the study all the
19 different types of disruption? 20 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Yes, all of those. 21 It can have gear destruction, it can have restriction
22 of harvest opportunity by discouraging fishermen from 23 being able to harvest. But –- and then also a 24 displacement, potentially of opportunity because you 25 can’t leave your gear out for very long. All the time
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1 you want your net to be in the water for a while, you 2 have to keep bringing it in and bringing it out. 3 And so it displaces the effort, too, 4 and reduces the effort. 5 Dave, if you wanted to add on to that 6 at all regarding what the impacts are, increased
7 vessel traffic, to the fishermen, that would be great. 8 ELDER SIGO: Yes. When you're fishing 9 and you've got 1,800 feet of net out, it's really hard 10 to move your net, especially if you've got 200 or 300 11 fish in there and you see a big tanker coming and 12 you're not getting out of the way until you get those 13 200 or 300 fish out.
14 And it takes, you know, anywhere from 15 three to six hours, you know, depending on how many 16 other fishermen you have on board to help you get the 17 fish out. So it’s not a five-minute process to get 18 your net out.
19 You can see a ship coming and you 20 ain’t gonna get out of the way. There's no way on 21 earth you’re going to get out of the way in time.
22 Thank you. 23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Over the years that 24 you have to increase the size of the boats to feel 25 more secure or be more modern in terms of bringing the
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1 fish in? 2 ELDER SIGO: I have the same boat that 3 I've had for over 40 years. I built the boat, and to 4 this day I’m still using it. I’ll probably give it it 5 my grandkids. 6 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: The expense of
7 keeping a vessel running and maintained is very 8 difficult, especially now, but the investment into a 9 larger vessel would mean more investment over time and 10 annually. 11 So a lot of the fishermen like to be 12 nimble. They keep their vessels a certain size 13 because they can use them in different fisheries.
14 I don’t know if you would maybe want 15 to add to the expense of keeping your vessels running, 16 Dave. 17 ELDER SIGO: Yeah. Well, I do yearly 18 maintenance on my boat, you know. I get about maybe
19 three to five years out of an engine so, you know, 20 you're running constantly from like our home, 21 Suquamish, clear to Blaine. You know, that’s a lot of
22 hours on an engine, and you can put a lot of time on 23 an engine in a short time depending on how many times 24 you run back and forth. 25 And yeah, the gear, you know, just
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1 don’t hold up, so you've got to change it. 2 Well, larger vessels are nice, I mean, 3 if you can afford them. It would be great to have 4 bigger boats. But you know, the way tribes are, they 5 just try to find what they can find, has a boat they 6 use to go fishing. So it’s just the way fishermen
7 are. 8 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: And I will say a 9 60-foot boat didn’t fare that much better, as we saw 10 in the video, so it’s a toss-up of smaller and faster, 11 get out of the way better, or bigger and maybe survive 12 better, you know. There's arguments for both sides, 13 I’m sure.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. 15 Are there any questions from 16 registered participants in the audience to the 17 presenter? 18 Are this any questions from Vancouver
19 Fraser Port Authority? 20 MR. STEWART: No, Madam Chair, we 21 don’t have any questions at this time. Thank you.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: So thank you very 23 much for sharing your experience –- oh, please go 24 ahead. 25 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: I have one more
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1 statement to make. 2 Just in closing, we'd like to thank 3 you for your time here, remind everyone that climate – 4 - climate change is an issue. 5 You talked about wave impacts, and 6 Nigel mentioned that it took Bremerton years to find a
7 vessel that wouldn’t create wave refraction in Agate 8 Pass and along Bainbridge island, so they finally came 9 up with a design that would meet the requirements of 10 the waterfront landowners who had sued the ferries 11 about those impacts. 12 So wave –- waves caused by vessels is 13 an issue, but also climate change as well.
14 And we're finding more and more of our 15 ancestors' graves are eroding away. And I think it’s 16 a combination of both the impact of vessel traffic and 17 also rising sea levels. 18 We want to continue to –- you know, as
19 our elder from Lummi, Mr. James, talked about his 20 survival, our people are survivors as well, and we are 21 trying to keep our way of life, and this is an
22 important part of that. 23 And having a healthy, sound Salish Sea 24 is so vital to that mental health and pride of our 25 people. And having salmon and shrimp and crab and all
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1 those fresh foods, as you know, are so delicious. 2 They're so important to feeding our spirit and 3 supporting our ceremonies. 4 And not only those ceremonies, 5 sometimes funerals. But they're also -- when we host 6 the tribe who come to Suquamish for the canoe journey,
7 we like to have all that traditional food. And if we 8 don’t have that traditional food available for people, 9 we hear about it, so it’s very important for our 10 elders to pass on to us that do that. 11 And the fisherman go out for free and 12 harvest those foods for those purposes. 13 And I think we have to weigh the
14 importance of this project with its impacts. And I 15 think that we’re getting along okay. I think that the 16 economy is doing well. 17 We can’t afford a house on our 18 reservation any more, the economy's doing so well. I
19 don't -- I just think that we need start thinking more 20 long term instead of long-term profits and investment 21 and returns and more on our most valuable asset, which
22 is our environment, our habitat and the waters that 23 have sustained us for so long. 24 So I'd like to say that clean water is 25 good for the economy, too, and it creates a lot of
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1 jobs as well. 2 We have a robust shellfish enterprise 3 that grows oysters and harvests wild gooey ducks. The 4 State of Washington and Canada as well has a very 5 robust and strong shellfish economy and we look 6 forward to, you know, trying to prevent further
7 impacts. 8 And earlier in the day, I was thinking 9 about we have a concept of no net loss so when a 10 project comes in, we try to restore something in 11 exchange, and I'd like to see us have a net gain. 12 And if that could happen -- I don't 13 think this project is one that can create a net gain.
14 It'll probably create a net loss. But we need to 15 start pushing in the other direction because we’re 16 really tiring of having them mitigate for these in 17 water projects as we have to do in many places. 18 The international boundary doesn’t
19 really exist to us. It really has sliced our fishing 20 area in half and has really created a boundary, I 21 think, that -- an obstacle that we've been overcoming
22 primarily through canoe journey, to getting better 23 relations with our First Nations people. 24 And we disbelieve that the CEAA is not 25 concerning its impacts this project –- needs to
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1 consider the impacts to U.S. waters. 2 And we respect our government-to 3 government relationship. We have a 4 government-to-government relationship based on our 5 treaty. In the U.S. Constitution treaties are the 6 supreme law of the land, so the treaties with the
7 United States, with the tribes, with Canada, I respect 8 it because as a country it's got to keep its word. 9 And we expect the United States to 10 keep its word with us and we hope that you can respect 11 that in the same way. 12 And just to end, I felt it was very 13 powerful to me to see that video about the orca and
14 that experience that we had. 15 I was on that ferry and I was visiting 16 a site. This related to West Point, the 17 archaeological site at West Point where I start my 18 archaeological career. And my life changed in that
19 place because of an encounter with an ancestor there. 20 And it was interesting that day that 21 the orcas escorted those artefacts home, I actually
22 went to that place at West Point where my life changed 23 that very day. So for me personally, going back to 24 that day and seeing those artefacts come home after 25 the State of Washington returned our winter house back
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1 to Suquamish, back to the tribe after they'd owned it 2 for 50 years, the artefacts that they owned came back 3 to our ownership as coming with the land that they 4 gave back to us. 5 So it’s just very important that we 6 recognize that, that really –- it's important to
7 recognize the connection that we all have 8 traditionally and culturally to the orcas. And just 9 understand that our governor appointed a task force to 10 look at and study the impacts to the orca. 11 I'm a member of that task force and 12 we've got a good -- we've made some good progress in 13 the state and through the recent budget to make
14 investments that we hope will help protect the 15 habitat, create more salmon -- more salmon harvesting 16 opportunities for the orca and for us as well in order 17 to try to save their lives and their spirit so they 18 can continue on to honour ours.
19 So with that I'd just like to 20 conclude. If anybody else has anything else to close 21 with on the panel?
22 SECRETARY LAWRENCE: If I can just 23 clarify. Nigel Lawrence again. 24 I was worried that you didn’t hear the 25 answer correctly earlier. Hy’shqe means thank you.
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1 Hy’shqe siam, thank you honourable people. So Hy’shqe 2 siam. 3 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Hy’shqe siam. 4 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON: I want to thank 5 each and everyone one again and I wanted to have a 6 good explanation.
7 We called to witness before we started 8 this work. This is the work that we have on our 9 minds, our family. This is what we had on our minds. 10 Really appreciate our friends and 11 family listening to the work that we have. 12 [Indiscernible - off microphone] to 13 the work that’s taken place here today.
14 Just another explanation. Each and 15 every one that’s here, you're a witness to what’s 16 taken place here today. 17 MR. GEORGE: (Indigenous language 18 spoken)
19 My name's William George from the 20 [indiscernible - speaking off microphone]. 21 I wanted to come and support my
22 relations [indiscernible - speaking off microphone]. 23 I lived down there 10 years, adopted in their 24 community. 25 I was also adopted into the Lummi
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1 community, which I do have family there. I did 2 spiritual work there for both those communities for 10 3 years, and I've got nothing but love and carrying on 4 the traditions of our people. 5 I'll try my best to recap, and one 6 thing that I think of that is missing in this process
7 that’s integral to our belief is that if you came to 8 our house and turned back the time [indiscernible - 9 off microphone] how we would sit down is how my family 10 speak. They're speaking about a win/win situation on 11 the fundamental values of any religious or any 12 spiritual belief of love and honour and respect 13 [indiscernible - off microphone].
14 I mean, you hear our elders talk about 15 the animals and the land and the water and how they 16 teach us. I had a great opportunity to pray all over 17 the world and I see the same things, fire, water and 18 sky included in those ceremonies.
19 But that’s the important missing part, 20 that we are spiritual beings. My family are spiritual 21 beings. What they're standing up and what they're
22 speaking for is what those lessons come from, and 23 that’s the land and the water and the animals. 24 Elders told me something simple. A 25 small little animal just wants happiness. Those white
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1 predators who live in the area [indiscernible - off 2 microphone]. 3 They said everybody wants happiness 4 one way or another, and that’s what we want. And 5 that’s where we learn from. But how could we continue 6 our relationship with what my family's talking about
7 when the relationship of those lessons and where they 8 come from is dying? 9 Half of -- in my short lifetime, half 10 the world’s species have already died. Now there's 11 only 200 or 70 so orcas in that community. 12 Here we have legends and stories that 13 the orca wouldn’t come back into Burrard Inlet because
14 they took our Chief out when he passed away. That's 15 the story. They took him out and they never came 16 back. But they've been coming back to teach us and 17 remind us that there is a spiritual connection. 18 And those are the basis of –- the
19 fundamentals of our laws. That’s our law. 20 And what I heard my relations talk 21 about within those laws and those fundamentals of
22 humanity that we all hope to go on to live by them, 23 we're going to think of our future generations. 24 I heard my brother say that we've been 25 here for thousands of years and we're going to try to
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1 be here for 1,000. 2 I sit here and I look and you're 3 welcomed into our territory. And that’s what the 4 welcome was about earlier today, to welcome you here. 5 And what we hope accordance to the 6 teachings of our culture and our spirituality that we
7 can walk in a good way like that little mouse who 8 wants happiness and carry ourselves that way, but 9 you're making a decision on behalf of all of us that 10 isn’t about your future generations. 11 Do they live here? Are they going to 12 be here for thousands of years like our families say 13 they're going to be?
14 Are you making choices where your kids 15 might already be moved away? I don’t know that. But 16 where you come from is a nomadic people. 17 Some came from thousands of miles 18 away. Some of our communities we never, ever left our
19 area. 20 What it is, under this land right here 21 is a reciprocal relationship, a spirit to the lands
22 and waters because our ancestors are there. The 23 teachings come from there. Our way of life come from 24 there. Our governance comes from there. Our 25 decision-making comes from there.
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1 Here I ask you to honour how we're 2 honoured in the Court. The Canadian Constitution 3 protects our indigenous rights. 4 Protect my family’s rights because 5 they taught me ceremony. They raised my children. I 6 continued that relationship with my family from the
7 south like we have for thousands of years and they 8 have a right to be here to express how they feel and 9 how they're connected to the land and to the water. 10 They spoke of the history of 11 surviving. Your history is the same as mine. Our 12 people were 15,000, went down to 13. People 13 [indiscernible - off microphone]. Now we're 550 and
14 building ourselves up. 15 It was against the law to practice our 16 language, our culture, our spirituality. Even to own 17 a business, you couldn’t sell half the goods that a 18 normal store could, but still we persevered.
19 Our elders said "I survived". And I 20 heard one of my brothers’ say we survived. 21 And one of the crutches that we use to
22 move us forward, you know, the psychological human, 23 things like that happen, the devastation that 24 happened, but the crutches that we used is what we 25 continue to use and our ancestors continue to use and
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1 the spirit of the land will always heal us. The 2 spirit of the water will always heal us. 3 We love it. And I heard my family say 4 no, we'll do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t 5 happen. 6 We don’t want it to happen because we
7 want to protect that reciprocal relationship and 8 spirit with the lands and waters, and not just for you 9 because it’s our teaching, too. 10 You're part of the human race. Each 11 and every one of you, you are -- each and every one of 12 you are part of the human race. Because you are. 13 We’re going to fight hard to make
14 better choices for your future generations, too. And 15 my family said they won’t let this happen. 16 They say adamantly no. And we 17 [indiscernible - off microphone]. And my family will 18 support behind that.
19 The legal choices I heard my family 20 talk about were based on those fundamentals again, the 21 governance of how it’s created, how they educated
22 themselves and incorporated those values of science. 23 Science can be a simple thing when we 24 know the destruction that’s -- it's causing out there 25 already.
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1 Look out our window and see the fires 2 that are happening. This is going to happen like the 3 two summers that we already had the last two years 4 where it was -- the sun was clouded from all the 5 smoke. 6 Flooding, all this weird weather
7 happening all over the world. Suffering. 8 And they're showing us. Those killer 9 whales came into the Burrard Inlet the first time in 10 50 years, and they came three times in the last four 11 years. 12 It was a Lummi elder that told us -- 13 me the teaching around that. I went home and talked
14 to my elder and he said the exact same thing. Then we 15 did what you did and we gave a salmon, a raw one, to 16 the killer whale spirit and we gave a cooked one to 17 the descendants of it, and that was part of my family, 18 the Tulalip.
19 We did that to appease and to say that 20 we know. Still, not everyone didn't get it because 21 that killer whale carried that baby for weeks to show
22 the world that there needs to be some change that’s 23 created and stop the continuing destruction. 24 That’s what I heard my relations say. 25 I stand behind my relations.
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1 And you know, my grandfather said 2 speak so the spirit of what you're saying, and that's 3 the air, the water. All that has a spirit, but air 4 has a spirit. 5 We connect our spirit with the air 6 spirit and that becomes our words and our songs. I
7 pray my family’s words and songs will fall down into 8 your heart and make a best choice for your future 9 generations. That’s what I heard my family say. 10 On behalf of my family, thank you for 11 allowing me to speak. Hy’shqe. 12 (Indigenous language spoken) 13 SECRETARY L. SOLOMON:
14 [Indiscernible - off microphone] conclude and then 15 we'll let you go ahead and conclude the hearing. 16 THE CHAIRPERSON: I think first I'd 17 like to hear the closing statement of Vancouver Fraser 18 Port Authority, and then I will close. And you can
19 close first and then I will close. 20 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Thank you. 21 CLOSING STATEMENT
22 MR. STEWART: Thank you, Madam Chair 23 and Panel members. 24 I would like to thank the 25 representatives from the Suquamish Tribe for being
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1 here today. We acknowledge the issues and interests 2 that you raised, and we appreciate the effort and time 3 you've taken to share them with us and with the Panel. 4 We share your concerns that you have 5 raised regarding the health of the Salish Sea. 6 I hope that everyone has a good rest
7 and the rest of the weekend, and we look forward to 8 continuing sessions on Monday. 9 Thank you. 10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you, Mr. 11 Silvester. Would you like to go ahead? 12 Or Mr. Stewart. 13 MR. STEWART: I appreciate the
14 promotion, Madam Chair. 15 --- Laughter / Rires 16 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: Okay. We want to 17 honour a few more people in the audience. 18 Cindy Parker, step forward. Could I
19 have everybody come up here? Samantha Sabo, Isabelle 20 Turcotte. Katherine Bailey-Jourdain and Gavin Fitch. 21 Would you all line up here?
22 --- Pause 23 CHAIRMAN FORSMAN: On behalf of the 24 Suquamish and Lummi, we'd like to thank you for your 25 work and take these blankets home as a memory of this
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1 day's work and all the lessons that we all learned 2 today from our elders and our friends here moving 3 forward. So thank you for accepting these gifts on 4 our behalf. 5 THE CHAIRPERSON: The Panel 6 appreciates very much this gesture. I believe that
7 without a supporting team we would not exist. They're 8 very important for us. 9 I would like to thank Chief Dalton 10 Silver for coming with the groups today. I'd also 11 like to thank all the representatives from the Tulalip 12 Tribes, the Swinomish, the Suquamish and Lummi First 13 Nations.
14 I think sharing all the information 15 you agreed to do today is very precious for our 16 analysis. Thank you for being with us. 17 Have safe travel going back home. And 18 I believe the word Hy’shqe has also a spiritual
19 meaning. Hy’shqe. 20 --- Closing ceremony 21 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 1617, to resume
22 on Monday May 27, 2019 at 0900 / L'audience est 23 ajournée à 1617 pour reprendre le lundi 24 27 mai 2019 à 0900 25
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1 2 3 4 5 CERTIFICATION 6
7 WE HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing has been reported 8 and transcribed to the best of our skill and ability 9 10 11 12 13 ______
14 Kristin Johansson Jackie Clark 15 16 17 18
19 ______20 Brian Denton Deana Johansson 21
22 23 24 25
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