FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(SPUZZUM) They’ll be bridging the past and present as well as cultures this weekend at the Spuzzum First Nation First Fish Ceremony.

For the second year in a row, the Spuzzum First Nation (SFN) will be holding this millennia-old ceremony of thanks and appreciation for abundance in their traditional territory at the Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park picnic area. SFN Chief James Hobart says the event is not just a celebration of the natural resources that sustain us all.

“This is also a celebration of how far we’ve come to preserve and restore the 1926 Alexandra Bridge, a priceless Canadian heritage tourism asset,” said Chief Hobart.

“We’ve made progress and we believe government is listening to us when we say the Alexandra Bridge is an icon of Canadian transportation and cultural history – the highways equivalent of the Last Spike.”

The First Fish Ceremony on July 25 will feature speakers and an update of the Alexandra Bridge Project, which is dedicated to making a rejuvenated bridge a legacy project for the Canada150 celebrations.

The SFN is one of the lead organizations in the Alexandra Bridge Project, a coalition of government, community and corporate groups with the common goal of making the preservation of the bridge a legacy project for the Canada150 celebrations in 2017. Other organizations include community-based groups like the New Pathways to Gold Society and heritage tourism associations.

Chief Hobart said the historic bridge structure is “the tip of a heritage iceberg” that includes 10,000 years of First Nations’ history, the fur trade, Gold Rush and the building of the great national railways.

“It’s symbolic of our ability to bridge the differences between cultures and something worth preserving,” he said.

The celebrations start at 11:00 a.m. with a welcome to the traditional territory, stories of the significance of the First Fish Ceremony as well as the bridge project update.