I feel sad when I hear and read all the rhetoric that is being spoon fed to the general public around whaling. I feel sad when I can see very clearly that people have lost touch with nature but portray themselves as saviors of the planet. Twenty percent of the worlds population live in the cities but they use up eighty percent of the world resources. These people do not have a clue about the natural law of nature. A very close friend of mine grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan. Her family invited some friends from the city up to the farm for a visit. These people would not drink the milk because it came from a cow.

What is that all about?

I was fortunate to be raised and taught by my grandparents, great grandmothers and great aunts in the small coastal village of Bamfield. For the teachings that I received I will forever be grateful.

I want to share with you some of the things I was taught. 
 
We must understand and abide by the NATURAL LAW of NATURE. This is to say that there is a natural food chain of which we are a part. 
 
We make up only ONE COMPONENT in the web of life. It must be understood that we all have a place reserved in the web of life which we occupy. There is no distinction between nationality, geographical location or occupation. 
 
We are not DOMINANT over nature but are, in fact, part of nature. At one time all our ancestors had an unbreakable relationship with their surroundings. Unfortunately the non-aboriginal race felt they knew better and proceeded to consume all the natural resources. Now they sit back in their embarrassment and say "oops we sure screwed up, we don't want it anymore, but you can't use it either". Colonialism or what. The strange thing this time is that the colonialism which is being forced up on us flows from peoples emotions, their new found morals and a guilty conscience rather then greed. 
 
We have an important responsibility which is to help maintain the BALANCE IN NATURE. One of the most important elements used to maintain the balance is sustainable utilization.

Everything is INTER-CONNECTED. 

When one component in the web of life is over exploited and then protected, the balance in nature is lost and all living creatures suffer. An example of this is in the Antarctic where there is concern over the Blue Whales. People do not know that there are over 1 million minke whales who are consuming the vast majority of the food which leaves the blue whales in a precarious situation. If you want the blue whales to increase then you need to cull some of the minke whales. 
 
We must make decisions which flow from RESPECT for all marine resources. Respect is the fundamental focal point where decisions flow from to ensure the marine resources are with us in perpetuity for future generations. 
 
We need to MANAGE the RELATIONSHIP between the human race and the natural resources. Traditional knowledge, historical knowledge, and fundamental traditional values and principles conclusively demonstrates that the nature can not be managed. It is the relationship between these entities that must be managed. 
 
CONSERVATION of the marine resources is vital. Conservation is foremost to ensure we all continue to benefit from the marine resources but we all must realize that sustainable utilization is also part of conservation just as it is part of maintaining the balance in nature. Things are inter-connected. 
 
Our most important RESPONSIBILITY is to the marine resources themselves Without the marine resources to utilize we will all suffer and balance will never be restored 
 
We have OBLIGATIONS to our families, communities and economies. Everyone of us have obligations which we must meet every day. 
 
There is an opinion that the Makah or Nuu-chah-nulth nations must hunt the whale in the traditional way. I ask you this. "Do you still use candles on your Christmas tree? Your feelings and spirituality around Christmas may be the same but, without question, the tradition has evolved. For coastal peoples around the world the pursuit of traditional health by eating traditional foods using traditional knowledge remains the same but the way we meet these objectives has evolved. 
 
People say that we don't need to hunt whales anymore because we can just go to the store. I for one, and I know the people who choose to live in the coastal communities prefer to eat fresh foods not processed foods. Do you know what process your chickens go through before they reach your table? They are raised by cramming more then 20,000 chickens in one room, they are placed as chicks in this room and kept in the dark, they are kept in cages after their wings are clipped, they are injected with antibiotics and growth hormones, they grow in their own filth, breathing their fouled air, and the only time they see the light of day is when they are taken to the slaughter house. Bon Appetite! 
 
There is an argument out there that there is ILLEGAL whaling going on. The fact of the matter is that all whaling activity is legal. If you are thinking about Japan, they are fulfilling scientific research on behalf of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and its scientific committee and it must be noted that the scientific committee applauds Japan for the science they have contributed. If you are thinking about Norway, they have exercised one of the clauses in the IWC which allows a nation to file an objection if it does not agree with a decision made by the member states of the IWC. This clause allowed Norway to implement their own national laws. One must also remember that Rights also come in to play. Sovereign rights, National rights, Cultural rights and Individual rights. Canada presents an excellent example of a nation exercising its sovereign rights. Canada withdrew from the IWC for a couple of reasons. 1) Canada has a Constitutional obligation to protect the whaling rights of its aboriginal peoples and 2) Canada uses science as part of its decision making. The IWC and its member states did not, and still do not, listen to their own scientific committee who clearly state that there are whale stocks which can be hunted on a sustainable basis and those stocks will continue to flourish. 
 
People are concerned about "commercial whaling". However, when a non-endangered species is SUSTAINABLY hunted there does not need to be any distinction between commercial or subsistence whaling because there is no conservation significance. 
 
Everyone is up in arms about the Makah. Some of the rhetoric being expressed is that these grey whales are going to turn into "devil fish" and attack the whale watchers. The fact of the matter is this stock has been hunted by the Alaskan Eskimos and the Russian Inuit since the beginning of time. This stock has been continuously hunted. 
 
People spend a lot of time and money portraying whalers as being people who are unethical, inhuman and without conscience. The fact of the matter is we care more about whales and understand more about managing them then people give us credit for. We support all the researchers who have dedicated their lives to learn more about the whales and we are very concerned about the pollution problem. We want to contribute our knowledge and be part of regional management regimes. 
 
There are over eighty different species of whales. People have been led to believe that the IWC has competence over all the whaling activities in the world. The fact of the matter is the IWC only has competence over 4.9 %. There are a number of coastal communities who have never stopped whaling because they need the food to survive and are not member states to the IWC. 
 
We must learn to co-exist, to support one another and learn from one another. We can not impose our morals, emotions or terrorism upon other peoples. We must spend the time to understand each others interests and not come with positions. Through open minds and communication co-existence will emerge and balance be returned.