Editor, The Times:
The Mountain Music Concert, held Aug. 16, at the Mount Robson Visitors Center, was hosted and produced by the Secwepemc Tiny House Warriors.
As the concert began, the smoke from the wildfires cleared away and glacier capped Mount Robson rose majestically behind the stage. The audience listened to many indigenous artists including Nataanii Means from Arizona, Buckman Coe and Ostwelve from the Lower Fraser, and enjoyed a salmon feast provided by the Tiny House Warriors.
The free concert, attended by about 75 people, highlighted that the Secwepemc have not given their consent to the construction of a second Trans Mountain pipeline. The Secwepemc never surrendered their title to the land. They are opposed to the pipeline because of the damage it could do to the water and the land.
As the concert came to a close, Mount Robson disappeared again behind a curtain of smoke.
People at the concert came from as far away as the Okanagan, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. I was one of the four members of the Vernon Climate Action Group who had driven the 500km to attend the concert.
We drove through smoke all the way there from Vernon. This is the second summer with historic numbers of wild fires in B.C. I am a retired carpenter and a grandfather and I am afraid of what my grandchildren will have to face.
It’s clear that our climate is changing and we need to stop expanding our use of fossil fuels. We need alternate sources of energy that will produce local jobs in B.C. not pipelines.
The other reason I went all that way is to support the Secwepemc people. They have lived here for more than 10,000 years and I want to see us figure out how we can all live together, here on this beautiful land for the next 10,000 years.
Bill Darnell
Vernon, B.C.
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