Gathering Coastal Voices Festival

This weekend, May 20-22, members of the Heiltsuk community in Bella Bella, BC are hosting a Gathering of Coastal Voices.  The festival is bringing together artists who work in a range of media to showcase the raw beauty and power of their home, and to raise awareness of what’s at stake when industry knocks at their door.This year’s theme highlights the environmental threats from Enbridge’s proposed pipeline to Kitimat, where supertankers would then carry tar sands oil through the waters of the Great Bear Rainforest.  A large oil spill in the Great Bear would devastate coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

Dynamic speakers,  films, feasting, arts and photography exhibits, music, demonstrations, youth and community discussion panels, and an interactive “speaker’s corner” are just some of the planned activities.

For more information contact gatheringcoastalvoices [at] gmail [dot] com

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Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.