This World Water Day, we are celebrating the link between glaciers and sockeye salmon — a delicate, ancestral connection honouring Earth’s cycles.
What are glaciers?
A glacier is a body of dense ice that forms over centuries from the accumulation and compaction of snow. In fact, the world’s oldest glacier is estimated to be 2.9 billion years old! They are found in regions where the winter accumulation of snow exceeds its summer melting.
On a global scale, glaciers play an important role in regulating the water cycle. They act as freshwater reservoirs, storing at least 75% of the world’s freshwater, and keep the earth cool by reflecting sunlight. They also maintain sea levels; scientists predict that if Antarctica were to melt, it would raise global sea levels by 65m, effectively submerging the city of Vancouver.
High in the mountains of the Wet’suwet’en Yintah, glaciers have held the ancient snow and ice for centuries. Slowly, they feed pristine waters into rivers that support salmon and communities. Since glacial meltwater is uncontaminated, they are considered to have healing abilities. The glaciers hold profound cultural importance, embodying the Wet’suwet’en’s relationship with the land, water, and animals that depend on them.
Glaciers and their relationship with Sockeye Salmon
For the Wet’suwet’en people, the salmon are not just food — they are ancestors and relatives with whom they have had relations for millennia. Each year, the salmon return to the rivers in the Yintah from the ocean, bringing back stories and memories. Glacial meltwaters feed the rivers in a slow ceremony, ensuring that the water is cold enough for the salmon to spawn. The sockeye, like many salmon species, rely on oxygen-rich waters of the cold, glacier-fed rivers and lakes for survival.
The meltwater also ensures that the river maintains a steady flow during seasons of low precipitation so that salmon can travel with ease. Glaciers also grind rock into glacial gravels which line the bottom of rivers, providing the perfect bedding for salmon to lay their eggs.
The salmon give life to the Wet’suwet’en people, and in return, the people are called to protect the waters. This responsibility is embedded in legends, historical stories, ceremonies, songs, and protocols passed down through generations.
Climate Change and the threat to glaciers and salmon
The climate crisis is shrinking glaciers in the Yintah to extinction. Among the Wet’suwet’en people there is a prophecy that when the glaciers melt, the world will catch fire.
Shrinking glaciers cause a reduction in water flow, affecting migration and diminishing a crucial resource for the community. Warmer water also holds less oxygen, which is critical for salmon, particularly during the spawning periods. Glaciers are critical in ensuring the water remains cool enough for salmon to survive. As glaciers recede, the volume of cold, oxygen-rich water decreases.
Wet’suwet’en People are saying No.
The Likhts’amisyu are taking action against policies and systemic ways of being that continue to propel rapid climate change. Two Wet’suwet’en House groups from the Likhts’amisyu Clans are taking Canada to court to hold them accountable to their climate commitments. A win would ensure projects and policies are consistent with climate protection — for now and future generations. Canada’s failure to implement laws and policies to meet its greenhouse gas emission commitments is depriving the Wet’suwet’en of their constitutionally guaranteed rights to life, liberty, and security of the person under s. 7 of the Charter.
However, Canada is trying to dismiss the Wet’suwet’en Houses’ Charter claim yet again. Recently, Canada filed its second motion to strike the claim, which, if successful, would prevent it from being heard in court and significantly delay the Houses’ hope for climate justice. The first of such motions was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal in 2023.
The Federal Court of Appeal said that if the Houses appropriately amended their Statement of Claim, they could proceed to trial under s.7 of the Charter. The hereditary chiefs from the two House groups filed the amended claim in December 2024. However, Canada argues the Houses’ amendments are insufficient and wants the case thrown out again. This would enable the federal government to avoid accountability for failing to meet its greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The Houses are not going to back down. They are opposing the new motion to strike, arguing that their Amended Statement of Claim is justiciable under the judgment given to them by the Federal Court of Appeal. They are back in court on August 21st to vigorously oppose this motion.
The Houses note that, when they first filed their claim in 2020, the earth’s mean global temperature was 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That temperature is now nearly 1.5 degrees above – a level that UN scientists could soon be close to catastrophic.
Donate now to help the Houses oppose Canada’s Motion to Strike.
