Help Stikine Communities Rebuild
At the beginning of August, fires ripped through the area surrounding the Grand Canyon of the Stikine destroying 32 homes in the Tahltan Nation community of Telegraph Creek. The Tahltan have been the most stalwart defenders of the Sacred Headwaters region and particularly of the Stikine, beating off attempts to dam the river in the '70s and fighting legal battles against the ongoing mining boom.
Their community has been devastated by these fires and they need help rebuilding. River runners around the world hold this area and river sacred and while most of us are too far away to physically help, we can do our best to spread the word and raise money to rebuild homes.
The Stikine -- the Grand Canyon, and the Upper and Lower stretches -- is one of the most untouched and amazing river corridors in the world and we owe that in large part to the Tahltan. Those of us who've been lucky enough to paddle there know how amazing their home is, and those of us who haven't have heard stories. As a worldwide community, we can come together and show our support to these people who share our passion for this incredible region and who let us recreate on their ancestral land.
If you are in BC, and particularly northern BC, physical help with construction would be more than welcome and I can put you in touch with someone who can provide more details. I've been told that food and supply donations have flooded in and are no longer really needed.
The Tahltan have a donation page set up on their website but if you are not from Canada, you'll have a hard time making a contribution, which is why I've set up this GoFundMe page. In the interest of transparency, I want to be clear about how this is working: donations on this page will go to my Canadian bank account, minus GoFundMe's "payment processing fee" (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). I will in turn send those via e-transfer to the official Tahltan donation address listed on their website -- [email redacted]. If you have a Canadian bank account, you are welcome (and encouraged) to send donations directly there rather than going through the GoFundMe, but since most paddlers who have visited the Stikine are from other countries, I felt it was necessary to set up a credit card option.
