The Wild Salmon Caravan project celebrates the spirit of wild salmon through arts and culture and raises awareness of the important role that Indigenous Peoples play in its conservation. Wild salmon is the most important cultural and ecological keystone species in the 27 Nations of Indigenous Peoples who are the original inhabitants of the Pacific NorthWest of Turtle Island. The Caravan is an annual celebration hosted by Indigenous Communities who host ceremonies, feasts, and community forums. The mission of the Caravan is to revitalize inter-tribal relationships in networks where the strength of Indigenous fisheries governance knowledge lives.
OUR JOURNEY
For thousands of years, the wild salmon have been our most important Indigenous food and cultural and ecological keystone species that feeds the entire Pacific and Inland Temperate Rainforests. Wild salmon are an indicator of the health and integrity of the Indigenous land and food system on which the health and functioning of the agro-ecological system is interdependent. They feed many species including the bears, the wolves, the eagles, the forests, our families and communities.
The ability of our communities to respond to the many environmental and socio-economic issues threatening wild salmon is intimately linked to the strength, resiliency and ability of wild salmon to overcome the many odds they face along their journey to the Salish Seas and home again to spawn and nurse in the rivers, lakes, and streams of the Fraser Basin. In this respect, the WSC will bring deeper meaning and understanding to truth and reconciliation in a way that words cannot confer.
PURPOSE
The main purpose of the Wild Salmon Caravan is to build capacity of coalitions and campaigns that link Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, artists, food systems networks, individuals, organizations, and communities who are working to protect, conserve and restore wild salmon and its habitat in the Fraser Basin and Salish Seas corridor.
VISION
The vision of the Wild Salmon Caravan is to nurture the creative energy that wild salmon have inspired through the ages, and affirm inter-tribal relationships that are the foundation of Indigenous trade economies and wild salmon knowledge, wisdom and values.
VALUES
The core values of the Wild Salmon Caravan are rooted on principles of collaboration, ancestral memories, and intrinsic connection to lands and water ways to educate, inform, and transform the darkness surrounding the industrial storm that is endangering wild salmon.
Ancient ceremonies and songs of Coast and Interior Salish peoples, as well as creative expressions of visual and performing arts, will call the wild salmon home to the rivers, lakes, and streams of the Fraser Basin and Salish Sea corridor where they play out their lives in birth and death.
Wild Salmon Caravan 