The May 8th Get Out Migration rally in Victoria was a glorious day for all supporting Alexandra Morton and her walk from Sointula to Victoria, demanding that fish farms be self contained or banned from our waters.
The rally started at Centennial Square in Victoria from which the enormous crowd marched to the Legislature where the it probably doubled. It was far and away the biggest protest crowd I've seen.
The estimates of the size of the crowd ranged from what I would say was 4,000 plus to, in two cases, 10,000. I believe the latter estimate is too high, but the lawn was jam packed as were the stairs leading up to the door of the Legislature. It was certainly in the thousands. I compared it to the rally over the Pitt River issue two years ago where the high school gym held over 1,000 and can say the Salmon are Sacred crowd was at least four or five times larger!
It was an excited, happy, noisy throng who listened to a number of speeches with great enthusiasm and who all came away with a vow to see this fight through to what must certainly be a successful conclusion.
The Vancouver Province, however, reported on this in two short paragraphs on A28 saying that there were nearly 1,000 people! I really no longer know how to describe this rag except to say that it's little wonder that they're bankrupt. It's sad to see this kind of coverage, which so badly distorted the truth for so many who couldn't make this trek themselves.
Calling numbers in a crowd any time is difficult so perhaps it should be left to Vicky Husband, a veteran environmentalist and activist, who holds an Order of Canada. She said it was the biggest environmental gathering that she had ever seen and very likely the biggest in BC history.
It was a simply grand day for Alex who has taken an enormous amount of crap since she started this fight over eight years ago, and to see her so honoured by so many brought tears to many eyes, including mine.
To see her, once again, insulted by the mainstream media saddens all of us fighting this battle but makes us all realize that in some cases, this certainly being one, it's high praise indeed to be ill judged by your enemies.
Once again, you can balance off coverage by a media that seems little more than a public relations advocate for government by forwarding this to your address book and asking the recipient to do likewise.
For more of Rafe Mair's political comments on the fish farming issue and about Alexandra Morton:
http://rafeonline.com/2010/03/the-time-has-come/#mor...
For more information about Rafe Mair and to read his writing on many health and environment issues:
http://rafeonline.com/
For more on the Get Out Migration:
http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/...