It is our sacred obligation to protect our Salish Sea homelands and our community, including the salmon and qwe 'lhol mechen (orcas).
Press Release
Lummi Nation stands strong against Trans Mountain Pipeline
June 18, 2019
Lummi Nation remains unequivocally opposed to the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, and will continue to stand with First and other Tribal Nations in protecting the Salish Sea.
In response to Prime Minister’s Trudeau’s announcement of Cabinet’s decision on the National Energy Board’s recommendation to approve the project, Lummi Nation Secretary Lawrence Solomon said, “Our hearts are heavy. Canada wants to proceed with a project that would hurt our salmon, our qwe ‘lhol mechen (the orcas), our schelangen (way of life), and our people. But our will is strong, and we will stand with other Coast Salish Nations to protect our homeland.”
Lummi’s newly-launched Salish Sea Campaign calls for a moratorium on all industrial stressors to the Salish Sea, including the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Lummi is also a signatory, along with 149 other First and Tribal Nations, to the Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion Treaty. As an official participant in the NEB hearings last November, Lummi testified that the sevenfold increase in tanker traffic resulting from the pipeline would have devastating impacts on the Southern Resident Killer Whale population, as well as on salmon runs, Treaty rights, sacred sites, and traditional lifeways.
The killer whales of the Salish Sea and the Indigenous Coast Salish cultures have a common bond. “Our connection to the killer whale is personal, is relational, and goes back countless generations,” according to Lummi Chairman Jay Julius. “Our name for them, qwe ‘lhol mechen means our relations below the waves.”
“What happens to qwe ‘lhol mechen will happen to us. And I don’t mean just us, the Lummi people, I mean all of us. If their environment is killing them, it means our environment is killing us,” said Raynell Morris, Director of the Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office. “Further, it is unacceptable that one sovereign nation simply impose catastrophic harm on another sovereign nation for unilateral economic benefit. That’s why the international standard of informed, free, and prior consent exists. We have not given our consent.”
Lummi Nation hereditary Chief Bill James (“Tsilixw”) said, “Our ancestors have spoken to us, and told us that we are the protectors of the Salish Sea. It’s our Xa xalh Xechnging (sacred obligation) to heal the Salish Sea. In saving qwe ‘lhol mechen, we save ourselves.”
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Contact: Raynell Morris, cell: (360) 305-5880, Raynellz@lummi-nsn.gov
for information on Lummi Nation's Salish Sea Campaign, please go to www.sacredsea.org
for more information on the Salish Sea Campaign, go to www.sacredsea.org
