At 10 a.m. on Sept. 22, Granville Street in Vancouver turned into a river. Brightly colored cardboard salmon, bicycle floats and hundreds of people dressed in costumes flowed down the street, carrying huge silkscreen banners and flags as big as sails printed with the words “Wild Salmon Forever.” People sang, beat drums and called the wild salmon home.
It was Day One of the weeklong Wild Salmon Caravan: the fourth annual 250-mile pilgrimage which follows the yearly migration of sockeye salmon up the Fraser River, from the Salish Sea near the U.S.-Canadian border to the mouth of Adams Lake in interior British Columbia. It’s known as one of the country’s most important salmon spawning grounds.
“The Wild Salmon Caravan is a celebration of the spirit of wild salmon through arts and culture,” says Dawn Morrison, one of the caravan’s founders. Morrison is a member of Secwepemc Nation from the south-central part of British Columbia. Salmon is a staple food, integral to the culture and identity of many different indigenous peoples here. It’s used in traditional ceremonies and in community feasts. It is baked, roasted over an open fire, canned, smoked or dried to be eaten over the winter.
Canada’s Wild Salmon Caravan Connects Future Of Fish And Indigenous People
Photos: Murray Bush/Wild Salmon Caravan 2018
