Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Jason Camp and the Posers, and more perform at Miác̓i: Canned Salmon Music Festival at Vancouver Art Gallery
The outdoor concert launched by Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative celebrates Indigenous-led conservation efforts
Snotty Nose Rez Kids.
Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative presents Miác̓i: Canned Salmon Music Festival at Vancouver Art Gallery on December 4 from 2:30 to 10 pm and via livestream.
A NEW MUSIC festival launched by Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative will raise awareness of environmental stewardship of traditional territories and celebrate Indigenous-led conservation efforts.
Miác̓i: Canned Salmon Music Festival on December 4 features live performances by Indigenous artists from Bella Bella and Haida Gwaii including acclaimed Haisla hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids; post-colonial rage rockers Jason Camp and the Posers; Haida/Cree folk-grunge singer-songwriter Kristi Lane Sinclair; Mohawk bluesman Murray Porter; Drezus, a Juno-nominated artist of Muskowekwan and Cote First Nations ancestry who combines traditional Anishinaabe and Nehiyaw teachings with hip-hop; and more.
The event will also broadcast videos of Indigenous elders, leaders, artists, and community members talking about the importance of salmon in Indigenous culture.
The event is free to the public, with donations going toward the Wet'suwet'en land protectors’ legal defence fund.
Heiltsuk Tribal Councillor Megan Humchitt.
“Miác̓i means ‘canned salmon’ in Heiltsuk,” Heiltsuk Tribal Councillor Megan Humchitt tells Stir by phone. “The running and return of the salmon also connect our people up and down the coast, and canned salmon and rice are a staple of our diet.
“Salmon is a really big part of our culture; part of what we do traditionally when you think about canning salmon is that it’s a time of family connection, of transfer of knowledge and teaching our traditional ways, and coming together as a community and a family,” Humchitt says. “The festival is about coming together make sure we’re telling those important stories and connecting with everyone as we see climate change happening right in front of our eyes. Salmon not only connects us as Indigenous people but also, it’s something of a keystone species of the forest. You can have salmon DNA found in cedar trees. It is such a vital and crucial species.”
Kristi Lane Sinclair.
The Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative, an alliance of nine BC First Nations, promotes community self-sufficiency, sustainable economic development, increased local control and management of forestry and fisheries, and the protection of culture and ecosystems on BC’s North and Central Coast and Haida Gwaii. The traditional territories of its member communities lie in the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest temperate coastal rainforest systems left on Earth.
“The festival is about getting the message out around Indigenous stewardship and Indigenous protection of Great Bear Rainforest and all of the hard work many different Nations do to ensure that the salmon are protected and the forests are protected,” Humchitt says. “Industrial fishing has impacted and continues to impact Indigenous people and the salmon. This is a call to action to amplify and support Indigenous communities that are doing the work on the ground. We’re so extremely grateful to all the Indigenous artists for their music to bring us together.”
Sponsored by Rogers Media, Salmon Nation, and RAVEN, the festival will also celebrate the Heiltsuk First Nation buying Shearwater, a sportfishing resort on Indigenous territory that the Heiltsuk will now run as an ecotourism destination.
Miác̓i: Canned Salmon Music Festival logo art design by KC Hall
For more information, see cannedsalmonmusicfest.com.
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