The Honourable John Fraser passed away on April 6, 2024, aged 92.
In the 1970's and 80's fight to stop the raising of the Ross Dam and subsequent flooding of Ross Reservoir further north into Canada, John Fraser served as legal counsel working with the likes of Tom Bruker, Ken Farquharson and many others.
In his words:
"Yes. Well to begin with, many years ago, I from time to time would go up to the Skagit and take in a day’s fishing, and on some occasions I camped overnight. Went up the Hope-Princeton Highway and found a place to park the car and then hiked down the stream. So I knew the Skagit, and it was a lovely place. Then we began to hear talk about the raising of the Ross Dam which would in consequence flood the Skagit River. And I began to get interested and concerned about this. At some point about 1970, Brian Williams who later became Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who was very active in conservation matters... called me one day and said the International Joint Commission’s come to Vancouver and they’re going to hear public comment on the raising of the Ross Dam by Seattle City Light. And he said, “I’ve got a trial I can’t get out of. Can you do it?” So I went to my partners and they said yes this is a very worthy thing, so we took it on. But of course we didn’t… this was pro bono, as they say."
...
"I was always convinced that public support could be engendered. But you had to tell somebody about it. And you also had to be able to in very clear terms, spell out the values that were involved in this. And you had to be able to persuade people and stand up to people, and say,
“Just a minute. This is not just a dollar and cents issue. There are values here. Values that people on both sides of the border think are very important. So it’s not just a case of power, or electricity. It’s also a case of shared values on both sides of the border. So we’ve got to find a way through this thing. And if we can find a way to satisfy American energy and water needs through surplus that we’ve got, then what’s wrong with using that to do it?”
But once we flood the valley, it is gone forever. And you can’t ever get it back. And those are values that someone’s got to fight for. There’s a lot of people who don’t get up and wave placards you know, who have those values."
A video of his interview in 2003 with Ed Liebow can be found here. https://vimeo.com/skagitwatershed John Fraser was an officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia. A Canadian politician, salmon conservationist, and one of the founders of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. He served as a Federal Member of Parliament for the riding Vancouver South from 1972 to 1993. Held office as Canada's Minister of Environment, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1986 thru 1993 until his retirement. Worth reading: → https://obits.oregonlive.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/john-fraser-obituary?id=54856908 → https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/jim-watson-special-memories-of-former-house-of-commons-speaker-john-fraser → https://watershedwatch.ca/stories/honouring-the-life-of-john-allen-fraser-wild-salmon-conservationist → from 1987: https://historyproject.allard.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/profile/ALUMNI%20PROFILES_JOHN%20ALLEN%20FRASER.pdf → https://psf.ca/blog/remembering-the-honourable-john-allen-fraser