Wild Salmon Warrior rally - Vancouver

The deets:

Tuesday August 30, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street
Vancouver, B.C.

The call-out:  CALLING ALL WILD SALMON WARRIORS!!!

Speakers:

Dr. Alexandra Morton (Raincoast Research Society/Salmon Are Sacred)
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip (President of Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs)
Chief Bob Chamberlin (Kwicksutaineuk Ah-kwa-mish First Nation)
Chief Marilyn Baptiste (Xeni Gwet'in First Nation)
Ernie Crey (Sto:lo Fisheries Adviser)

The ground-breaking research of Department Fisheries and Oceans genetics expert Dr. Kristi Miller has an uncertain future. She stated during testimony at the Cohen inquiry that she has no confirmed funding to continue her work on sockeye, right when she is on the verge of taking the research to the next level.

Last week it was revealed that the funding model used by Miller and other federal scientists, which uses outside funds to pay for staff salary, is "not compliant with DFO policy." This led to questions about the status of her research, which were confirmed today as she said approvals for funding were pending a Treasury Board decision.

Department of Fisheries and Ocean staff scientist Dr. Kristi Miller made waves today at the Cohen inquiry with her eagerly awaited testimony about a 'novel' virus that could be infecting millions of sockeye.

What Miller, a molecular geneticist, originally described in her January 2011 Science publication as salmon leukaemia has been more accurately identified as parvovirus. This is the first time this virus has been seen in salmon, though it is not known how long it has been present in other species.

As May 2 creeps closer, all of our federal parties are looking to solidify your vote. In this race, there are key regions of Canada that each party has been targeting in order to win swing ridings.

B.C. is one of these highly contested regions, with all of the parties giving special attention to our voters, and our issues. But in B.C. there is one issue which has been surprisingly absent from the honeyed tongues of most candidates. And that issue is the future of our wild salmon, and what the federal government plans to do about fish farms.