Introductory remarks for Indigenous Struggles Solidarity Day, June 28 in Sudbury

By Clarissa Lassaline

Good morning. Bonjour. Anni. Welcome everyone.

Today’s activities have been initiated by a local group called Sudbury Against War and Occupation (SAWO). We are a mixed group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous folks concerned with all forms and consequences of war and occupation. While this includes working against Canadian involvement in war and occupation all over the world, SAWO sees it as central to recognize that Canada itself exists as an occupation of First Nations’ territory and that struggles of Indigenous Peoples against that occupation must be supported. There is an urgent need to support communities standing up for their lands and for their sovereignity and understand how non-indigenous people are a part of and contribute to the continuing violations of that soveriegnity. Mohawk activist of Tyendinaga, Shawn Brant, called for a different way of doing things on National Aboriginal Day last year when he cried out: “We bury our children in this country every day. We have to force them to drink polluted water. We’re sick and tired of it. It’s going to end-June 29 is going to mark the time when First Nations people are going to be in a different relationship with the rest of the country.”

By Angela Scappatura, The Sudbury Star

Indigenous and non-indigenous people gathered at Victory Park to assert their support for the struggles of aboriginals in Canada on Saturday.

Heavy rain did not prevent more than a dozen people from attending the day-long event, which included a drumming workshop, personal stories and musical performances.

The event was organized by Sudbury Against War and Occupation and was designed to raise awareness of aboriginal issues.

Gary Kinsman is a member of Sudbury Against War and Occupation and said the inaugural event displays solidarity between both indigenous and non-indigenous people.

"I think it's important because what we're showing is that the government's apology around residential schools was not enough," he said while standing beneath a tarp protecting a barbeque and food from the rain.

"The government policies around indigenous people are, in general, pretty bad."

Many of the day's events highlighted the group's concern surrounding First Nations land claims. Kinsman, who is not an aboriginal, said there needs to be justice for the community.

Barriere Lake Algonquins Occupy MP Office!
by Lia Tarachansky, Dominion Weblogs, June 26, 2008.

GATINEAU- On Thursday, June 26th, Algonquin representatives from Barriere Lake and allies assembled outside the Indian Affairs government building across the river from Ottawa. Their demonstration was a diversion, intended for a peaceful occupation in Birmingham, QC of Lawrence Cannon's office, the MP for the Barriere Lake region. The Algonquins demand a meeting with the MP to discuss the recent government ousting of the Customary Chief and Council as well as a re-election monitored by outside observers.

The Barriere Lake Solidarity Collective, based in Montreal, as well as Algonquin representatives from Barriere Lake itself have vowed they will not leave the office until their demands are met. They have been threatened with arrest, and are welcoming support from anyone who is willing or able to assemble in Buckingham, QC.

Saturday, June 28, 11am to 5pm

Learn about John Moore’s struggle against racism in the criminal justice system.

Find out more about the importance of First Nations land claims and struggles with Ed Sackaney.

Participate in workshops on Native Music with Eric Landry; on the Native Youth Movement; and on the questions that settlers interested in supporting indigenous people need to address.

Hear Shadakii drum. From Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (Whitefish Lake First Nation)

Hear speakers, watch videos, and listen to music by Eric Landry. Food and refreshments will be available for lunch, as a fund-raiser for John Moore’s campaign for justice.

Myths and Mirrors
in Victory Park off Frood Road,
north of Kathleen
Myths and Mirrors is the painted building (a community artspace) located in
Victory Park in the Donovan. It is between Dupont St. and Schevchenko Ave.

All Are Welcome

Initiated by Sudbury Against War and Occupation
with the support of Myths and Mirrors Community Arts.
For more information, call 705 675-8479 or email sudburyawo@gmail.com

*Please forward widely*

Friday, August 22 to Sunday, August 24, 2008
Chiefswood Park, Ohsweken, Six Nations Territory

The third weekend in August will witness a historic gathering of the
people of Six Nations and their allies from across Ontario and Turtle
Island. From Friday, August 22 to Sunday, August 24, hundreds of people
will gather at Chiefswood Park in the town of Ohsweken, Six Nations
territory for a three day festival of friendship and solidarity.
The vision for this event was inspired from the work that has been
accomplished by the people of Six Nations in the spirit of the Great Law
of Peace and the good minds that have been tireless in moving this
vision forward. Many have lent their voice, strength and support to
building greater awareness, understanding, friendship and solidarity
between our peoples. The Peace and Friendship Gathering will facilitate
the opportunity for and all of us to learn, be inspired, and gather a
greater understanding and respect of the relationships that indigenous
and non-indigenous people have.

The primary focus of the festival will be a series of workshops, talks
and presentations related to indigenous sovereignty, environmental
politics and issues of anti-racism and social justice. In addition to
talks and workshops, we will also be holding a series of cultural events

Mohawk Grandmothers Attacked by Canadian Border Services Agency Guards
No-One Is Illegal-Montreal, June 17, 2008.

This past Saturday, June 14, 2008, around 2:30pm, a vehicle with two outspoken Kanion’ke:haka (Mohawk) activists, writers and grandmothers was stopped at Akwesasne while crossing into "Canada" from the "USA". Akwesasne is a Kanion’ke:haka Indigenous community that includes parts of so-called Ontario, Quebec and New York, and community members routinely cross between "states" and "provinces”.

Katenies lives in Akwesasne, with her mother and near her daughter and three grandchildren, who reside on both sides of the "border". Kahentinehta, also a grandmother, is from Kahnawake. Katenies and Kahentinehta publish Mohawk Nation News and were delegates to the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit in San Xavier, Tohono O'odham Nation (Arizona) in November 2007.

Lakes across Canada face being turned into mine dump sites: Lakes are in B.C., Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

by Terry Milewski, CBC News

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

Under the Fisheries Act, it's illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But, under a little-known subsection known as Schedule Two of the mining effluent regulations, federal bureaucrats can redefine lakes as "tailings impoundment areas."

That means mining companies don't need to build containment ponds for toxic mine tailings.

CBC News visited two examples of Schedule Two lakes. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Vale Inco company wants to use a prime destination for fishermen known as Sandy Pond to hold tailings from a nickel processing plant.

Racism in the Tar Sands: exploiting foreign workers and poisoning indigenous people

By Macdonald Stainsby, June 12, 2008, reposted from Oil Sands Truth

The giant corporations that are determined to exploit the Alberta tar sands face a major problem — a serious shortage of local labour to do the actual work. So the Canadian and Albertan governments have a plan, ideal in their eyes, to solve the crunch.

Currently, employers desperate to find needed hands, backs and minds for the vast production targets of the “Gigaproject” are flying workers from the Maritimes from their homes for shift stretches and then back again, but that effort faces limits in terms of workers available. Nary a day goes without a business page article somewhere in Alberta bemoaning the lack of workers. Many of the Newfoundlanders who would have come out this way in the past will now work in Newfoundland premier Dany Williams’ new off shore oil and gas ventures, using skills learned in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

By Ward Churchill, Briarpatch Magazine, June/July 2008

Responding to the Canadian government’s establishment of an Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Churchill argues for the need to situate the formation of this commission within the broader history of indigenous/settler relations in North America, and within a legal understanding of the crime of genocide.