The Salmon People Project
In this talk, Darrell Hillaire from the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation will describe the Salmon People project by Children of the Setting Sun Productions. It includes a projected multi-part documentary series on how eight Indigenous Nations in the West and Canada are affected by the decline of salmon caused by colonization, dams, and rising water temperatures. Some programs will cover the Klamath Tribes’ struggles to remove four dams from the Klamath River in Oregon and California, and the Colville Tribes’ fight to remove the Enloe Dam from the Similkameen River. The project is also publishing its forthcoming book of interviews with Coast Salish elders, Jesintel in November 2021.
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Speaker Bio
Darrell Hillaire is the Executive Director of Children of the Setting Sun Productions. He served several terms on the Lummi Indian Business Council including as Chair. Retiring from the Council in 2008 he founded and ran the Lummi Youth Academy. In 2013 he wrote the acclaimed play “What about those Promises?” about the Treaty of Point Elliot and founded Children of the Setting Sun Productions to stage the play. He has since led the growth of Children of the Setting Sun Productions into a four-pronged organization: 1) Collecting and retelling Indigenous Stories; 2) Developing youth leadership in digital storytelling; 3) making a full documentary series on Native Salmon Peoples in the Western United States and Canada; and 4) providing commercial video & audio services. He is the coeditor of the forthcoming book Jesintel: Living Wisdom from Coast Salish Elders (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021).