This morning we all went to the Anglo American annual shareholders meeting. While walking in there we noticed our admittance letters and pieces of paper showing our 1 share interest in the company stated that we wouldn’t be able to speak at the meeting. I am sure you can imagine the look on our faces. But to our surprise, they let us speak our minds there for a brief moment.
I remember my colleagues doing a wonderful, powerful job. We talked about the amount of opposition there is to the Pebble mine and the importance of our fish.
My time in front of the Anglo American board of directors and shareholders went quickly.
“See these bear claws around my neck?” I said. “I shot this bear when it was trying to come into my house. In Alaska, we have to take care of ourselves. That means taking care of the things that give us life: clean water and salmon. The Pebble project is a threat to those things.”
After the whole ordeal we had a quick cup of coffee, Sir Mark Moody and the other leaders of Anglo came over to us. We all gave a diplomatic “thank you” for letting us speak; They thanked us for coming.
Many of the shareholders were interested in our story and came to talk to us after the meeting. I told them how serious we are about protecting our way of life: we are not going to back down. I told them to help protect our area, an area already rich with salmon, the last river systems of their kind. That is something to be protected!
They seemed like they would give it some thought and even stated maybe that is what will happen but until I see some leadership to protect our precious home and fish habitat I will not stop and neither will my colleagues, we will not stop fighting for the protection of our back yard.
We were interviewed and had pictures taken outside the building by a photographer for the London Times. I found out my op end piece was used in the London Times. We have interviews tomorrow with some other news organization and off on Friday back home.
Tags: alaska, anglo american, bristol bay, fishing, gold, london, mining, pebble mine, salmon, sockeye
Anglo's CEO promised not to build the Pebble mine against community opposition. Surveys show: communities are overwhelmingly opposed. Click here to tell Cynthia to honor her promise!
