Cascadia today: BC lost 20K jobs + ICE gases Salem protesters + an anthology of writing about working Cascadia's land & sea

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! (And happy Thanksgiving to my readers in British Columbia.) In honor of the day, take a moment to read a feature at Underscore Native News about how Coast Salish people are growing and harvesting culturally important native plants at Seattle's Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center. Or, at KUOW, read about a new Indigenous cultural center taking shape in downtown Bellingham created by the nonprofit Setting Sun Circle. At the ACLU of Washington, check out their guide to ways you can take action on Indigenous Peoples Day.

This month is Cascadia Journal's fall subscription drive. Will you help me meet my goal of thirty new paid memberships by the end of October? I can't produce this newsletter without the generous support of my readers. Thanks! --Andy

BC lost 20,000 jobs in September

CBC reports that British Columbia lost 20,000 jobs in September, with the biggest hit to construction, health care, and manufacturing. Unemployment in the province is now at 6.4%. That's bad news for the ruling NDP government – the latest poll projections by 338Canada for the October election have the BC Conservatives winning 52 seats, NDP with 39, and the BC Greens with 2. Meanwhile, things are going slightly better for progressives in Vancouver, with Green Party candidate Pete Fry in a tight race with incumbent Ken Sim. At the Tyee read about how Sim's ABC party wants to turn Vancouver hospital into a mental health prison. Vote no on that ballot measure.

Kotek has slight lead in OR governor's race

Meanwhile in Oregon elections, the Oregonian reports on the latest polling in the race for governor, with Democrat Tina Kotek holding a slight lead over Republican Christine Drazan. At Eugene Weekly, read a fact-checking piece about inaccuracies made by both candidates during a recent debate. In other Oregon political races, Portland councilor Dan Ryan is getting into deeper hot water for potentially hiding text messages, with a court recently ordering him to preserve all messages after the Portland Mercury sued Ryan for access after he refused to share them.

ICE gases Salem protesters

During a surge in ICE abductions in Oregon this past weekend, ICE tear gassed protesters in Salem who were attempting to block ICE vehicles, OPB reports. In other immigration news, RANGE Media reports that the National Labor Relations Board is investigating the nonprofit Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) for charges of worker retaliation after it fired half its employees, who had attempted to unionize.

WA has high rate of whale entanglement

Washington State Standard reports that Washington state has the fourth-highest rate of whales becoming entangled in fishing and crabbing nets. The Cascadia Research Collective, which studies whale behavior and has a rapid response team to try to remove nets, says entanglements of Cascadia's coast have increased 50% in the past year.

Poetry and prose about working Cascadia's land and sea

Salish Current reviews a new anthology of poetry and prose, Cascadia Works: Tend, Gather, Harvest, Restore, which collects more than 120 pieces of writing about working the land and sea across the Cascadia bioregion. Published by Empty Bowl, the collection is edited by a Tele Aadsen, an Oregon salmon trawler and Jessica Gigot, a farmer and poet from the Skagit Valley. Sounds like a fantastic collection! Find out more and order the book from Empty Bowl, a Cascadia-based press celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Thanks for reading. If you're in Seattle please join me, Christopher Armitage, and Nadine Maestas in a panel discussion about soft secession, autonomy, and Indigenous sovereignty at 7 pm, Wednesday, Oct 14 at Folio Seattle in Pike Place Market: