[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.92,0:00:03.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is not a story of Tibet
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.10,0:00:05.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's not a story of the Amazon.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.18,0:00:07.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I won't be taking you to the high Arctic,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.62,0:00:11.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the life of the Inuit, or to the searing sands of the Sahara.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.72,0:00:16.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is actually a story of my own backyard.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.73,0:00:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a land known to the Tahltan people
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.00,0:00:22.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all the First Nations of British Columbia
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.81,0:00:25.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the Sacred Headwaters,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.16,0:00:29.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the source of the three great salmon rivers of home,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.11,0:00:33.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Skeena, the Stikine and the Nass.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.61,0:00:36.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a valley where, in a long day, perhaps, too,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.36,0:00:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can follow the tracks of grizzly and wolf
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.90,0:00:41.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and drink from the very sources of water
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.14,0:00:43.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that gave rise and cradled the great civilizations
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.76,0:00:45.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Northwest Coast.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.72,0:00:49.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's such a beautiful place. It's the most stunningly wild place I've ever been.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.97,0:00:52.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's the sort of place that we, as Canadians,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.19,0:00:55.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could throw England, and they'd never find it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.26,0:00:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,John Muir, in 1879, went up just the lower third of the Stikine,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.07,0:01:00.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he was so enraptured he called it
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.92,0:01:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Yosemite 150 miles long.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.22,0:01:05.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He came back to California
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.26,0:01:08.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and named his dog after that river of enchantment.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.47,0:01:10.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the Lower 48, the farthest you can get away
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.82,0:01:13.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from a maintained road is 20 miles.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.04,0:01:15.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the Northwest Quadrant of British Columbia,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.76,0:01:18.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an area of land the size of Oregon, there's one road,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.68,0:01:21.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a narrow ribbon of asphalt that slips up the side
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.40,0:01:24.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Coast Mountains to the Yukon.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.43,0:01:27.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I followed that road in the early 1970s,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.56,0:01:30.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,soon after it was built, to take a job as the first park ranger
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.33,0:01:32.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Spatsizi wilderness.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.60,0:01:35.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My job description was deliciously vague:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.84,0:01:39.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wilderness assessment and public relations.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.98,0:01:43.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In two four-month seasons I saw not a dozen people.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.28,0:01:46.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was no one to relate publicly to.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.14,0:01:47.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the course of these wanderings,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.87,0:01:50.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I came upon an old shaman's grave
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.25,0:01:52.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that led to an encounter with a remarkable man:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.92,0:01:57.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alex Jack, an Gitxsan elder and chief who had lived
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.40,0:02:01.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a trapper and a hunter in that country for all of his life.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.07,0:02:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And over the course of 30 years, I recorded traditional tales
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.60,0:02:08.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Alex, mostly mythological accounts of Wy-ghet,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.49,0:02:11.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the trickster transformer of Gitxsan lore
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.77,0:02:15.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who, in his folly, taught the people how to live on the land.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.57,0:02:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And just before Alex died at the age of 96,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.36,0:02:21.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he gave me a gift.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.20,0:02:24.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a tool carved from caribou bone
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.96,0:02:27.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by his grandfather in 1910,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.74,0:02:31.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it turned out to be a specialized implement
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.02,0:02:35.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used by a trapper to skin out the eyelids of wolves.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.25,0:02:39.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was only when Alex passed away that I realized that
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.30,0:02:42.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the eyelids, in some sense, were my own,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.27,0:02:45.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and having done so much to allow me to learn to see,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.43,0:02:49.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alex in his own way was saying goodbye.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.27,0:02:51.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, isolation has been the great saving grace
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.98,0:02:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of this remarkable place, but today isolation could be its doom.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.22,0:02:59.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've heard so much about the developments of the tar sands,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.32,0:03:02.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the controversy about the Keystone and the Enbridge pipelines,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.99,0:03:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but these are just elements of a tsunami
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.70,0:03:08.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of industrial development that is sweeping across
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.09,0:03:11.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of the wild country of northern Canada.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.88,0:03:17.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Tahltan territory alone, there are 41 major industrial proposals,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.31,0:03:21.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some with great promise, some of great concern.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.02,0:03:23.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On Todagin Mountain,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.24,0:03:27.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,revered by the Tahltan people as a wildlife sanctuary in the sky,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.100,0:03:32.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,home to the largest population of stone sheep on the planet,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.26,0:03:34.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imperial Metals --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.32,0:03:37.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the 75th-biggest mining company in all of Canada --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.42,0:03:39.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has secured permits to establish an open-pit
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.91,0:03:41.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,copper and gold mine which will process
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.88,0:03:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,30,000 tons of rock a day for 30 years,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.87,0:03:49.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,generating hundreds of millions of tons of toxic waste
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.40,0:03:52.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that, by the project's design, will simply be dumped
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.45,0:03:56.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the lakes of the Sacred Headwaters.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.15,0:03:58.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the Headwaters itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.82,0:04:02.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shell Canada has plans to extract methane gas
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.35,0:04:06.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from coal seams that underly a million acres,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.24,0:04:09.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fracking the coal with hundreds of millions of gallons
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.48,0:04:11.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of toxic chemicals,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.56,0:04:14.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,establishing perhaps as many as 6,000 wellheads,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.34,0:04:17.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eventually a network of roads and pipelines
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.81,0:04:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and flaring wellheads, all to generate methane gas
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.73,0:04:24.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that most likely will go east
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.18,0:04:28.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to fuel the expansion of the tar sands.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.41,0:04:31.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For over a decade, the Tahltan people,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.02,0:04:33.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,both clans, Wolf and Crow,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.43,0:04:36.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have resisted this assault on their homeland.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.34,0:04:39.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Men, women and children of all ages,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.59,0:04:42.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,elders in wheelchairs, have blockaded
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.32,0:04:45.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only road access to the interior.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.63,0:04:48.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For them, the Headwaters is a kitchen.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.27,0:04:52.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a sanctuary. It's a burial ground of their ancestors.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.04,0:04:53.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And those who really own it
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.88,0:04:57.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are the generations as yet unborn.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.90,0:05:00.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Tahltan have been able,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.34,0:05:03.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the support of all Canadians who live downstream,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.37,0:05:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all local politicians, to resist this assault on their homeland,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.75,0:05:12.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but now everything hangs in the balance.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.11,0:05:14.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Decisions that will be made this year will literally determine
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.92,0:05:17.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fate of this country.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.78,0:05:19.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Tahltan have called for the creation
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.68,0:05:22.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a tribal heritage reserve which will set aside
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.88,0:05:27.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the largest protected area in British Columbia.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.63,0:05:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our goal is not only to help them do that
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.48,0:05:35.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to encourage our friends, the good people at Shell,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.18,0:05:38.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not only to withdraw from the Sacred Headwaters,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.74,0:05:41.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to move forward with us and join us
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.95,0:05:45.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we do the remarkable, the extraordinary:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.89,0:05:50.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,set aside a protected area that will be for all time
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.24,0:05:53.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not simply the Sacred Headwaters of the Tahltan people
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.91,0:05:58.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the sacred headwaters of all people in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.64,0:06:02.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Tahltan need your help. We need your help.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:02.62,0:06:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if any of you would like to join us on this great adventure,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.80,0:06:08.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,please come and see me later today.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.73,0:06:10.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.98,0:06:15.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)