Upon a friend’s recommendation I went out to the Harmonie Theater in Freiburg to see a documentary called The Whale and the Raven. Before attending I knew next to nothing about whales or the community in which the film takes place, Gitga’at, a territory inhabited by many First Nations’ residents. The film highlights two researchers and their passion for tireless research on each individual whale in their waters. The landscape in the beginning of the film appears by first glances to be pristine, untouchable, painfully beautiful.
However, a threat looms in the region. Large oil tankers from a company called LNG are almost inevitably doomed to come to the Great Bear Rainforest and threaten the whale’s habitat. The money and employment opportunities are greatly needed. Many in town are on board with the new projects. But even small boats make it nearly impossible for whales, who rely on sonar, to navigate the waters of the bay meaning that large tankers could potentially harm many whales and disrupt their sleeping and searches for food and thus their livelihoods.
If someone were to ask you simply the question of whether you think whales should be protected, it would be easy to say Yes, of course. The complication comes when accounting for the power dynamics between more distant government forces with economic interests and a weaker local population who has been carefully managing their lands for thousands of years. As time goes on it becomes harder for the First Nations’ people to maintain sovereignty over their lands and to acquire stable employment for young people. These economic and political struggles ultimately blur the lines between what is just and what is necessary.
These realities are a hard pill to swallow, but at the very last I am touched by the passion of researchers who love their work so much that they can scarcely imagine any other purpose for their lives.
Color Me Adri 