Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust present Salish Sea Summer Gathering at Cates Park/Whey-ah-Wichen, Sunday, Aug. 10, starting at noon.
Bill Henderson's reasons for performing at the upcoming Salish Sea Summer Gathering were personal, among others.
"I was raised in Yellow Point, which is on Vancouver Island, it's between Nanaimo and Ladysmith, it's right on the Salish Sea," says Henderson. "And I live on Saltspring Island now and I lived in Vancouver most of my life when I wasn't in the Southern Gulf Islands area, so it's a part of my blood."
The lead singer of the legendary Vancouver band Chilliwack will be performing at the third annual event, hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust at Cates Park/Whey-ah-Wichen on Aug. 10. The event, which runs from noon to 8:30 p.m., will feature three stages with more than 30 artists and speakers, including Chilliwack, Holly McNarland, Chief Maureen
Thomas, Vince Vaccaro and Rex Weyler, co-founder of Greenpeace International.
The festival was organized by the Tsleil-Waututh Sacred Trust to raise awareness about Kinder Morgan's planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which would see an increase in capacity from 300,000 barrels of bitumen per day to 890,000 barrels, as well as almost seven times more tanker traffic per month in Burrard Inlet.
Henderson says the kind of tanker traffic expected with the expansion of the terminal in Burnaby would be "a horrible thing for this area."
"And of course the pipeline I'm not in favour of that, I'm not in favour of the whole thing," he says. "It all links into generally how humans are dealing with the planet."
Henderson says people are on some kind of "automatic ride."
"We believe that our technology is probably the most important thing in our lives and that we have to continually have more of it, more convenience, more goodies, all that kind of stuff," says Henderson.
"And this requires this kind of energy, it's very expensive energy and I think there are a lot of people who are trying to come up with means of sustainable energy solutions and that's fantastic. It may never be the level of energy that we would like to have and I think that's just fine too, that we can live easily without so much of what we think we need."
The bottom line, says Henderson, is the coastline is incredibly beautiful territory.
"I was raised in this coastline and I'm just not going to stand by and allow it to be potentially ruined," he says.
Henderson liked the concept of the Gathering.
"Its not just a bunch of fist waving and protesting. Protesting is good and important but this is more, I get the feeling, it's more of a family thing," he says. "It's more of a reinforcement of the values that we believe in and the beauty of life and the beauty of the Salish Sea and this beautiful place that we live in and kind of affirming that and remembering that and that way we will be sure not to ruin it."
The event will also feature traditional canoes, a salmon barbecue, green energy zone, artisan market, the Dragonfly Children's program and more.
The stages are all powered by eco-friendly energy, including solar power, biodiesel fuel and the bicycle-powered Chief Dan George Poetry Stage.
Stephen Collis, poet and professor in the faculty of English at Simon Fraser University, says he, along with fellow poet Christine Leclerc, was contacted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust and asked to read George's works.
"They know us, they know we're activists as well as poets and that we know people in the community, so (it's) easy for us to find people," says Collis, who was in charge of circulating George's poems amongst the group of 10 poets that will be reading.
Though he hasn't decided yet as to what he's going to read, Collis says a couple of lines in one particular poem caught his attention.
"I'd love to write something in response. I see that as part of the way poetry works in general, as kind of a response genre, you're always responding to some other piece of work out there rather than just sort of originating something out of the blue," he says. "I love working that way, so I will definitely write something in response to some of Chief Dan George's lines to read that day."
Rita Wong, a poet and associate professor in the faculty of culture and community at Emily Carr University, will also be reading George's work.
"One of the poems that really stuck out for me, it's a very short one and it's not actually titled, it's in his book My Heart Soars," she says. "It basically is this idea that we don't own anything, that what we have is borrowed, in a sense we have a debt to it or a responsibility to life and that just really resonates for me."
Wong says she has been very active and concerned about protecting the coast and will choose her own poem to accompany George's work based on that.
"I know that Chief Dan George was very adamant about saving and protecting the land that he lived on," she says. "So I will choose poems that relate to love for the coast and the land."
Wong says the festival has "filled some very big shoes," referring to the site's previous event, Under the Volcano, which celebrated its 20th anniversary and final festival in August 2010.
"I've really enjoyed this festival a lot," she says. "I think its very important not only because of the celebration of the Salish Seas but it also for me fills a little bit of a hole that's left with the passing of Under the Volcano, which was one of my most favorite festivals."
Irwin Oostindie, production coordinator for the Tsleil-Waututh, says the event is about bringing together neighbours who live along the Burrard Inlet.
"To basically deepen their understanding and connection to the Salish Sea, to the ideas of environmental stewardship and the shared responsibility between the First Nations and the general population," says Oostindie.
It's an opportunity for those attending, he says, to learn about each other cross culturally.
"I think the festival really reflects the positive existing public sentiment and so it's in our regard not a protest concert," says Oostindie. "It's more of a celebration of unusual allies, which is the municipal governments, the First Nations and the Joe Public."
Henderson says, in regards to the amount of risk government and leaders are willing to take with the pipeline expansion, "we should remember the words of the captain of the Exxon Valdez: 'shit happens'. He's right, and it's not worth the risk."
Tickets are $10 for regular admission, $5 for youth and free for seniors and children and can be purchased ahead of time at eventbrite.ca, or at the door. For more information, visit eventbrite.ca.
