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Ole Man Pete Never Quits Trying to Flood out Indigenous

by Iakohakowa, July 22, 2009

from the Eagle Watch listserv: eaglewatch@npogroups.org
Ole Man Pete aka F. Pierre Gingras never seems to quit.  One of the head

technical and economic engineers behind the James Bay Hydro Projects in northern Quebec, he figures he can always succeed in his insane schemes.  Pete worked at Hydro Quebec for 30 years to dam the rivers in Cree territory and build numerous hydro power stations.  He helped create a handful of Cree hydro sheiks while destroying the traditional Cree way of life.  Now a retired busy body, he wants to divert three more mighty northern rivers and send what he calls “surplus” water south to the U.S.  This would affect not only the people in Cree territory but also in Algonquin and Haudenosaunee territory.  Animals and plants in these territories would be endangered and could be exterminated. Ole Pete calculates there is enough “wasted” water flowing into James Bay that could be sold to over 150 million people.  If each household paid just $50/year, he and Quebec could make piles of $money$.

It’s an old plan from at least the 1930′s. It gets periodically revived by people like Tom Kierans and Louis Desmarais of GRANDCo.  This time around, the ole man Gingras is backed by the Montreal Economic Institute and the Desmarais family, some of Canada’s wealthiest billionaires.  These people have made their fortunes plundering Turtle Island and robbing us Indigenous.

Ole man Pete’s been at this latest mad plot since at least 2004 putting forth articles and studies on water diversion.  His team of engineering experts have been revising the Grand Canal scheme into what they say is a more economically viable and environmentally safe plan.  It’s now known as “L’Eau du Nord” or “Northern Waters”.

His main concern is that the U.S. will come and take the water, by force if necessary, when they get desperate enough.  He refers to the old mass murderer, Henry Kissinger himself when he says wars are already being fought over water. Court battles are already being waged in the US as the drought widens.    What Pete really wants is to make more money any way he can.

Huge swaths of farmland in the U.S. are now experiencing widening drought conditions.  California declared a state of emergency this year with drought there into its fourth year.  Farmers have been forced to stop cultivation after being denied up to half their annual water allowance.  Southern California has always been dry but people like the warm climate.  Farming, there has been accomplished with irrigation for over a century.  Fruit like peaches and apricots and vegetables like squash and broccoli are exported all over North America.  You may be eating some of them.

The drought conditions exist all across the south – Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and even Florida.  The agricultural area in central Mexico is also experiencing drought.  The prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta are very dry this year, affecting grain crops like wheat and oats and hay for livestock feed.  It looks like it’s getting worse.

With people flocking to the pleasant warm dry climate, many southern US cities are also demanding more water.    For people in the Great Lakes area, this is hard to imagine.  The Great Lakes is the largest surface freshwater in the world.

In April, 2008 ole man Pete sent a letter to the Internationl Joint Commission IJC promoting the big water diversion scheme.  Set up in 1909, the IJC handles water issues between the US and Canada.

Pete sent the English version of his letter to IJC headquarters Frank Bevacqua in Washington, DC and the French version to the Commission Mixte Internationale, Gregg McGillis in Ottawa.  He attaches a document called “L’Eau du Nord Project Synopsis” which summarizes his privately financed conceptual study.

Bilingual readers may notice there is a difference in at least one line of the letter.  The English version claims the project will give “the Government of Quebec an extremely important financial margin.”  The French version says it will “apportant aussi aux gouvernement du Quebec and de l’Ontario une marge financiere forte importante…”

Ole man Pete thinks he has all the bases covered, including the legal aspect. He writes, “The international legal framework in force between Canada and the U.S. would prohibit the water diversion towards US, starting from basins bordering Canada.”  He is referring to the Great Lakes Water Compact which, like a sieve, cannot hold water.

He continues, “However, it seems it would not prohibit the bringing of additional exterior contributions or to use these same basins for the moving of these new external water contributions. The project would thus be apparently legal, as is, within the current legislative framework.”

He also wants to see the “amending of constitutive law of Hydro-Quebec to add from now on the sale of water to that of energy.”  He’d like to see Bechtel involved in his project.

Pete foresees a “possible dam in Montreal on the St.Lawrence River, suggested by the Authority of Le Havre of Montreal to prolong the basin of La Prairie [ten minutes from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake] to Sainte Helene Island, thus creating a vast nautical recreotouristical basin”.  The water would then flow back into the Great Lakes instead of flowing out to the Atlantic Ocean. How many Indigenous and mostly poor people would be flooded out along the way?

Pete’s original plan has the water redirected from three northern undeveloped rivers, the Bell, Waswanipi and Broadback flowing south into the Ottawa River through a series of canals.  Then it would be diverted to Lake Huron via the Nipissing River and Lake Nipissing.  His revised plan has it all going down the Ottawa to hit the dam at Montreal.  He plans 22 new dams and power stations with 1/2 of them along the Ottawa.

On July 15, 2009, the Montreal Economic Institute MEI published an editorial by Pete which was taken up by the National Post.  His latest synopsis, “Northern Waters: A realistic, sustainable and profitable plan to exploit Quebec’s blue gold” is available at the MEI web site.  It’s a special edition of their Economic Notes in English only.

Helene Desmarais, businesswoman and wife of Paul Desmarais Jr., is the chair of the institute.    The 13 directors include Marcel Boyer and Leon Courville, two economists with degrees from the US Carnegie Mellon University and Stephan Cretier, head of Garda World Security Corporation.

Garda has offices in major cities all across the land including at Val d’Or, Quebec.  Garda does armored transportation of currency and valuables, cash logistics, protection of persons and premises, physical security, consulting and investigations and electronic security solutions.  They guard mine sites, hydro and nuclear power stations, banks and VIP like Barack Obama.  They’re all set to take on guarding the water diversion.

For those who say it will never happen, there are precedents.  The St. Lawrence Seaway was first proposed in 1895 but not completed until 1959, over 60 years Grelater.    It made the St. Lawrence deeper so that ships could travel all the way to Thunder Bay on the western end of Lake Superior.  Grain, iron ore and coal are the main goods shipped along the Seaway.  About 6,500 people were relocated during its construction.  Many of them were Mohawks.  Thousands of acres of good farmland were flooded.

In his latest document, ole Pete Gingras figures the project will cost only $15billion, much less than Kierans Grand Canal scheme, estimated at $100 billion.  Pete thinks his plan can be completed by 2022.  They’re not in a big rush because the water crisis isn’t critical enough yet to be profitable. Xstrata, a Swiss company, needs til about 2013 to dig up all the copper and zinc they are mining near Matagami, Quebec.  Domtar also needs time to cut down all the rest of the trees that would otherwise be flooded.

The Grand Canal project would have seen James Bay turned into a lake.  Gingras’ revised plan intends to block the rivers upstream and create a basin stretching between Matagami and Mistissinni.  Val d’Or would be on the southwestern edge. Chibougamau and Waswanipi would be flooded.  These two towns with combined population of about 10,000 currently depend on tourism, fishing and logging to survive.  Since 1957, over 44 million tons of gold and silver have been mined out near Matagami.  The toxic tailings ponds they left behind will likely be flooded too.

Gingras’ plan is insane and destructive.

Firstly, what he calls “surplus” water is part of the natural cycle of spring floods, needed for many species’ survival.  This includes the traditional Cree people living off the land.  No one can forget the horrible picture of 10,000 drowned caribou who got stranded in previous diversions for hydro development. The huge protest movement against the James Bay development was overwhelmed by multinational corporate interests.

What does Gingras know about the spring runoff going into the sea where species depend on the natural level of salination?  His lunatic scheme could cause the ocean to become too salty.  Who can predict what awful consequences this could lead to?  Mother Earth has natural cycles that humans don’t understand.  Too much human interference on such a grand scale  could be disastrous!

Ole Gingras claims the flooded area or basin would not be very large and thus not harmful to the environment.  His basin looks as big as Lake Ontario itself. That sounds like a lot of water to us.  Artificially raising and lowering water levels would destroy fish spawning habitat and kill the fish.  Many Cree and Algonquins still depend on fishing for their food.

Pete says there would be no damage from mercury because the water wouldn’t sit for long.  What he forgets is there wouldn’t be any fish to be contaminated with mercury anyhow.

It’s uphill all the way to Amos in Algonquin territory.  This would require a lot of power to pump the estimated 25billion cubic meters of water to the top of the hill.

How does Pete figure all this water could then be sent down the Ottawa River without flooding and damage along the way?  Chalk River Laboratories is on the Ottawa River.  There’s a lot of nuclear waste stored there, some of it underground.  What would happen if there were a flood?  Annual spring flow varies from year to year, more so with climate change.

We condemn ole man Pete Gingras’ schemes as utter madness.  You know he’s a real sneak when he claims that “Quebec could export a large quantity of freshwater – without one drop having to leave the province”.  How does he figure that one?

If he didn’t have all that money behind him, his ideas could be quickly dismissed.  He keeps on trying to get the project going.  Water continues to be wasted and polluted by careless humans, causing a water shortage to grow.  The economic crisis means people desperate for work.  This demented and destructive plan must be stopped.

Iakohakowa

[Consider printing and sharing this report with your cyberphobic family and friends.]

Toronto, April 26: The Question of Sustainability

WHAT: 1 day conference about mining issues within Canada and abroad

WHEN: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 10:00am – 7:30pm

WHERE: Earth Sciences, Room 1050 (ES 1050), University of Toronto, 5 Bancroft Avenue

Moderated by Judy Rebick

$10 (sliding scale) to cover cost of meals; free for students. No registration required. Donations gladly accepted (available seating for 400 in auditorium).

Hosts: UTERN, Science for Peace, Students Against Climate Change / Toronto Mining Support Group, Aboriginal Students Association of York University

With the intention of building a movement for change within Canada we are hosting a conference on mining issues at the University of Toronto. This conference will provide the space for people within Canada to interact with affected communities and each other, and the conference format prioritizes facilitating conversations focused on solutions to ending corporate impunity.

“The Question of Sustainability” is a conference dedicated to examining the Canadian mining industry through the lens of sustainability within ecosystems, human rights, culture, and economics.

Featuring speakers from Papua New Guinea, Chile, the Congo, Guatemala, Tanzania and Peru, as well as many First Nations speakers and academics from Canada. This conference brings together indigenous people from the global south and the global north, and serves to address some of the complex social, political and environmental issues that relate to the imposition of extractive industries on traditional cultures.

Major issues include water use and contamination, human rights violations by Canadian companies operating abroad, the question of corporate social responsibility, and the autonomy and preservation of traditional cultures.

Endorsements: Amnesty International, Indigenous Education Network, Sierra Club Youth program

If you would like to table at the event or become a sponsor email indra@pantropy.net

Note: Special guests from the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation will conduct a three hour role-playing workshop.
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Schedule

10:00 a.m. – Introductions, opening ceremony

10:30 a.m. – Open plenary speaker

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11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – FIRST BREAKOUT SESSION

- Historic Perspectives on Mining
- Mining in the Congo
- Mining and Health
- Resource Economics in developing countries
- Indigenous Issues and Mining

1pm – 2pm lunch break

1pm – 4pm: Concurrent with lunch: Role-playing workshop with Ardoch Algonquin leadership begins – Limited space available, so sign-up on the day of the conference!

2pm-4pm – SECOND BREAKOUT SESSION

- Human Rights: Issues with mine security
- ¡MesoAmerica Resiste! presentation by Beehive Collective
- Women’s issues in Mining
- Funding the destruction: TSX, Pension Funds, and Corporate Welfare
- Mining and Water

4:15 – 5:15pm – SOLUTIONS break-out session

*CSR/legislation* A discussion of the CSR framework and current legislation related to mining issues.
*Popular Education* A discussion of how to build awareness within our communities about mining issues, in a way that engages people and builds off the knowledge that they already possess.
*Legal Battles* A discussion about the use of lawsuits as a way of demanding accountability within Canada and beyond.
*Direct Action!* A discussion of how Direct Action is used in various campaigns.
*Shareholder Activism/Divestment* A discussion of different tactics engaging with shareholders, institutional holders, and “ethical” mutual funds.
*Referendums and accessing International Institutions (recommended for affected communities!)* Learn first hand about successful community-based tactics to defending community rights against mining companies. Learn from first hand experiences about engaging the UN, the ILO and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. – Closing Plenary
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If you would like to table at the event or become a sponsor email indra@pantropy.net

Event blog

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About the speakers

Jethro Tulin, CEO, Akali Tange, concerning the Porgera mine, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea.

Native to the rocky highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Jethro Tulin is a popular organiser and founder of the Akali Tange Association (ATA), a human rights organization documenting abuses at the Porgera mine, owned by Toronto’s Barrick Gold.

Jethro has been organizing within and outside the Barrick’s Porgera mine since its inception (then owned by Placer Dome. In 1989, he registered Porgera’s first mine workers union and became its first secretary. Years later, after spending time abroad and involved in other aspects of Papua New Guinea’s nascent union movement, Jethro returned to Porgera to find the situation with the mine and the surrounding villages had worsened dramatically. So, in 2003, he founded the ATA, which has operated in Porgera with an all-volunteer staff and material support from friends, victims’ relatives, and even local businessmen and officials.

Jethro can be seen in this video:

Bob Lovelace, representative of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation

Bob Lovelace was born into a line of Tslagi Indians through his great grandparents Mungle, grandfather, and mother, a heritage he honours. Bob attended cultural school as a child, joined AIM for several years while at University, and in Fall 1979 joined AAFN’s Honourary Chief Harold Perry to research, negotiate, and then launch an uncompromising legal defence of the wild rice stands near Ardoch Algonquin land. He has stood strong with many allies and friends in this “Rice War.” For nearly 25 years Bob has remained a steadfast and determined representative for the Algonquin communities of Ardoch, Sharbot Lake and many others, seeking to invigorate a sense of dignity and freedom in all Algonquin Peoples . . . Bob is a teacher to those wishing to learn more about tradition and ceremony. He is in addition an eloquent spokesman for Native rights, utilizing both English and Algonquin languages.

Lovelace is most well-known outside the Ardoch Algonquin community for his stand against uranium mining, for which he incarcerated in 2008 with no objection from the Province of Ontario at the time.

Sergio Campusano, leader of the Diaguita Descent Community Los Huasco Altinos in Chile.

Since he assumed the role of president, Sergio has been fighting against the greed of the mining corporations and the local agriculture companies in order to mantain the rights of his People. He has participated pressing charges in countless times even against the Chilean State and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He’s conscious they’re fighting not only to represent the living, but the ancestral thought of preservation of the ecosystem for the entire world, for the children of us all. In this clear idea is impregnated the principles of AUTO-DESTINY, AUTONOMY, and the right of the indigenous peoples of AUTODETERMINATION.

(to be continued)
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Additional links:

Porgera Alliance, Papau New Guinea (presenter)

Sergio Campusano, Pueblo Diaguita Huascoaltinos (presenter)

Rosalia Paiva, practitioner of Pachamama (presenter)

Save Lake Cowal campaign (by Skype, possibly)

Judy Rebick (moderator)

Lorraine Rekmans (presenter)

Jimmy Dick, Eaglehart Singers (presenter)

Video of Rights Action protest outside Goldcorp AGM

Luis Faura, Councilperson from Alto del Carmen

Mining photojournalist Allan Lissner (presenter)

Beehive Collective (tabler, presenter)

Ulises Garcia, vetran of community resistance to mining in Latin America (presenter)

Sakura Saunders (presenter)

Protest Barrick (tabler)

Grahame Russell, Rights Action (presenter)

Francois Guindon, Rights Action (presenter)

Carlos Amador, Siria Valley Environmental Committee, Honduras (presenter)

Justin Poder (Presenter)

FAO Montreal
Youtube video of Enrique River (invited speaker)

Article by Chris Reid. lawyer for KI Six, AAFN (presenter)

Bob Lovelace, Whitefish Lake First Nation (presenter)

Asad Ismi, journalist, creator of The Path of Destruction, a radio documentary on Canadian mining (tabler, presenter)

Global Aware (tabler)

Rainforest Action Network, tar sands campaign (tabler)

Willi Nolan, Bodia Machuria and Martin Kijazi (presenters at the Congo workshop)

Christian Peña

For information the role of Canadian mining companies in the Congo see the MiningWatch Canada website.

Écosociété, publisher of Noir Cananda

CCAMU

Tar Sands Watch

Science for Peace, University of Toronto chapter (host)

Students Against Climate Change To. Mining Support Group (host)

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“Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human rights standards, including the rights of workers and of indigenous peoples.”

– Canada’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. June 2005

“Canadian mining companies are taking advantage of [inadequate and poorly enforced regulatory controls] to expand into all corners of the globe, manipulating, slandering, abusing, and even killing those who dare to oppose them, displacing Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, supporting repressive governments and taking advantage of weak ones, and contaminating and destroying sensitive ecosystems.”

– Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada. November 2006

CONTACT: Visit www.globalresponse.org; www.gbrw.org; www.wsdp.org

Paula Palmer, Global Response, 303 444-0306 ext 103, paula@globalresponse.org

Dan Randolph, Great Basin Resource Watch, 775.348.1986, dan@gbrw.org

Larson Bill, Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775.744-2565, wsdp@igc.org

Groups Charge Wal-Mart with “Greenwashing”

“Love,Earth” Gold is Tarnished

Boulder, CO: Environmental watchdog group Global Response announced today that it filed complaints with Consumers Union and the Federal Trade Commission, charging that Wal-Mart’s “green” claims for its “Love,Earth” jewelry are false.

“It is unconscionable that instead of addressing the planet’s serious environmental problems, Wal-Mart hoodwinks consumers into thinking they can ‘reduce impact on human health and the environment’ by buying gold jewelry,” says Global Response’s executive director Paula Palmer

The mines in Utah and Nevada and the factories in Peru and Bolivia where Wal-Mart claims its gold for Love,Earth is “sustainably mined and manufactured” are not monitored or certified by any credible independent agent.

“Wal-Mart has chosen to publicly endorse mining operations which have significant problems,” says Dan Randolph, executive director of the Nevada-based Great Basin Resource Watch. “These mines emit unacceptable quantities of mercury into the air, threatening the health of fetuses and young children. They deplete water quantity in an arid region, and they will go on contaminating water with toxic metals for centuries to come.”

Denver-based Newmont Mining Company mines Love,Earth’s gold on Western Shoshone lands without the permission of the Western Shoshone. “Wal-Mart claims its jewelry comes from ‘community friendly sources,’” says Larson Bill of the Western Shoshone Defense Project. “But they’ve never talked to us, and we’re the community affected by Newmont’s mines. They should meet with us. We need an independent health study here to show how these mines are affecting our people.”

Wal-Mart’s Love, Earth logo is encircled by the words, the “reduce, reuse, recycle, respect.” But mining is an extractive, non-renewable industry that is, by definition, unsustainable. A single gold ring leaves behind as much as 20 tons of waste rock and tailings that continue to pollute ground water even after the mine has stopped operations.

“The only sustainable gold is recycled gold – your grandmother’s wedding ring remade into a new piece. When Love,Earth jewelry is made entirely of recycled gold, it will earn its name. Until then,” says Global Response’s Palmer, “don’t believe it, and don’t buy it.”

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SEE THE GLOBAL RESPONSE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO… and ACTION!

This Global Response Action was issued at the request of and with information provided by the Western Shoshone Defense Project (www.wsdp.org) and Great Basin Resource Watch (www.gbrw.org). For more information about Wal-Mart, see www.loveearthinfo.com, www.wakeupwalmart.com and www.walmartwatch.com. For more information about the impacts of gold mining, see www.minesandcommunities.org and www.nodirtygold.org. Special thanks to George Blevins for his drawings.

On August 22nd, the Peruvian Congress repealed two legislative decrees at the root of the indigenous demonstrations that paralyzed various roads and energy installations from August 9th through 20th. The indigenous movement of the Amazon, home to 65 different indigenous nations, declared victory.

[note: several of the hyperlinks are to articles and websites in Spanish.]

Background

Peruvian President Alan Garcia approved more than 100 legislative decrees in the first half of 2008, making use of special powers bestowed upon the Executive branch by the Congress in order to bring the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Peru into effect. The FTA was signed in 2006 and passed – despite opposition – by the US House and Senate in late 2007.

Several of the new laws enacted by Garcia are not directly related to the FTA, including legislative decrees #1015 and #1073. The former facilitated procedures for the fragmentation and sale of communal lands held by indigenous and farming communities in the mountainous (Sierra) and forest (Selva) regions of the country, enabling these crucial decisions to be made in an assembly by a simple majority, instead of the previously required two thirds of communal landowners, thus bringing these regions in line with the procedures of Peru’s coastal region. Decree #1073 makes further modifications to decree #1015.

Laws regarding the control of the land titling process, logging, natural resources and agricultural policy were also among those passed by Garcia earlier this year. Although Peru has ratified the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, there was no consultation with the indigenous peoples whose territories would be affected by these new laws.

In the months leading up to the most recent mobilizations of the past two weeks, indigenous organizations led a series of protests, press conferences and judicial actions to denounce the new decrees.

Indigenous Occupations

Starting on August 9th, the indigenous movement of the Amazon and of the country in general displayed its power with coordinated occupations of energy and road infrastructure in both southeastern and northern Peru. Occupied sites included a key bridge in Bagua linking the Peruvian amazon to the coast, an oil pipeline owned by State company PetroPeru, a natural gas lot owned by Argentinian company PlusPetrol (key operator in the Camisea mega-project), drilling platforms, a hydroelectric dam, and other important infrastructure.

The indigenous movement’s spokespeople demanded that the government rescind over 30 legislative decrees considered as violatory of indigenous rights, including decrees 1015 and 1073. The government was widely denounced for facilitating mining and energy industry interests in indigenous territory, particularly in the Amazon, via the privatization of communally held lands. Another demand was for consultation with indigenous communities concerning their own views on “development” and relevant legislation.

Government Response

Government attempts to resolve the conflict during the first week of the actions were limited to the executive branch insisting that all occupations cease before establishing a dialogue. On Friday, August 15th, the indigenous rights organization AIDESEP broke off talks with a government commission, questioning the commission’s validity and vowing to continue the occupations. By the following day, another highway blockade and other actions in northeastern Peru had begun.

Meanwhile, declarations questioning and undermining the capabilities and objectives of the indigenous movement abounded in the media. Environmental Minister Antonio Brack warned the public that behind the demonstrations “there is a movement to liberate ancestral indigenous territories, even until they are independent from the Peruvian State.” Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo compared the actions to the strategy of the former guerrilla organization Sendero Luminoso (“Shining Path”). Other prominent figures in the Peruvian government and commentators publicly speculated that NGOs, opposition political parties or Chavez must have been behind the actions. Alberto Pizango, leader of and spokesperson for the movement, promptly dismissed these claims.

The second week of continuous actions began with the government’s declaration of a state of emergency in several key areas: the province of Datem del Marañon (Loreto region), Bagua and Utcubamba (Amazonas), and the district of Echarate in the province of La Convención (Cusco). The emergency measures that came into effect on Monday August 18th suspended rights to the freedom of assembly and freedom of movement, and also authorized police to arrest and search without a warrant. The government announced the possible intervention of the Army and Special Forces to end the demonstrations.

Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo explained that regions affected by the state of emergency did not entirely correspond to the regions affected by the protests, but that they were limited to regions of key energy infrastructure: an oil pipeline through the northern Amazon region and the Malvinas gas plant – part of the Camisea mega-project – in the south. In a press conference with several Ministers, del Castillo declared that the intention of the state of emergency decree was “not to provoke the communities, but to protect strategic points for energy security.”

Alberto Pizango, however, called the measures “a declaration of open war” against indigenous people who were willing to die in the defense of their territories. He announced that the protests would continue despite the state of emergency and the impending intervention of the armed forces.

The occupations, blockades and protests continued; in fact, others joined in solidarity. A provincial Committee of Struggle in La Convención (Cusco) including a Farmworkers’ Federation announced indefinite actions in support of the communities in the Amazon, including blockades of roads and inter-provincial transportation.

On Tuesday, August 19th, police were first sent to break up the occupation of the Corral Quemado bridge in Bagua, a key transportation link between the Amazon region and the rest of the country. Onsite negotiations between police and protestors led to an agreement that police would not permit the intervention of special forces in the area, and that the 2000 indigenous demonstrators would voluntarily open the bridge to traffic for 24 hours as of 4pm that afternoon.

Resolution in Congress

During the morning of Wednesday, August 20th, an agreement was reached between AIDESEP and President of Congress Javier Velásquez Quesquén. Velásquez promised to convoke an extraordinary plenary session of the Peruvian Congress on Friday, August 22nd, to discuss two issues: the repeal of legislative decrees 1015 and 1073; and the creation of a special multi-Party Commission to study indigenous concerns and issues. He pledged his support for legislative proposal 2440, which would revoke 1015 and 1073. The agreement signed also included an initiative to modify the regulations of Congress procedures themselves in order to include consultation with indigenous peoples, which would incorporate ILO 169 into the legislative process. Finally, the agreement involved an end to the mobilizations and actions.

In the meantime, there was some conflict between indigenous demonstrators and police in Bagua. A larger group of Bagua residents mobilized to support the indigenous demonstrators and gathered outside the local police headquarters. By early Friday morning, there was a strong police presence in Bagua, on local roads and on the Corral Quemado bridge. Residents and indigenous community members, however, were gathering in a plaza to await the outcome of the Congressional session in Lima. Press reported a concentration of some 4000 people in the Heroes of Cenepa plaza in Bagua.

After several hours of discussion and debate, Congress passed legislative decree 2440, repealing decrees 1015 and 1073, by a vote of 66 in favour, 29 against, and no abstentions.

President Alan Garcia maintained his opposition to the overturning of the decrees, an act he categorized as an “historic error.”

AIDESEP leader and indigenous movement spokesperson Alberto Pizango celebrated the decision, declaring, “The people of Peru, indigenous or not, have demonstrated once more that it is possible to reclaim our rights to life, to dignity, and to a lasting sustainable development. This is a new dawn for the Indigenous Peoples of the country.”

[Summary of media reports and information compiled by Sandra Cuffe.]

The Longest Walk 2 Speaks Out for Mother Earth

by Sandra Cuffe, http://thistidehasnoheartbeat.wordpress.com

Cherokee Territory, June 18, 2008.

“Being here, at this very moment – it’s going to be a moment in your history that you’re going to remember for all time,” American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Dennis Banks told Longest Walk 2 participants back in April at the Dooda Desert Rock camp, in the Navajo Nation.

Following in the footsteps of the 1978 AIM Longest Walk for native rights, on February 11th, 2008, the Longest Walk 2 left on a six-month, 4,400-mile walk to Washington, DC, from Alcatraz. The island off the coast of San Francisco, California – former site of the infamous federal prison of the same name – is Ohlone territory and was the site of an historic re-occupation in 1968.

Thirty years after the original Longest Walk, many of the problems facing native communities and nations continue. Many of the concerns raised in 1978, such as the threatened destruction of sacred sites including San Francisco Peaks, are once again being denounced. The 2008 Longest Walk 2 is to protect Mother Earth against destructive industries, pollution, and the devastation of sacred sites. The Walk is also setting an example with the Clean Up Mother Earth campaign, picking up garbage and recyclables all along the way.

The Longest Walk 2 includes two main routes: the northern route, following the path marched by the original 1978 walk; and the southern route. Both began in California and will converge as they near Washington for a three-day Cultural Survival Summit before the official presentation of a Manifesto for Change to the government of the United States on July 11, 2008. The Walk has been traversing the snaking rivers, towering mountain ranges and winding highways through thunderstorms, blazing heat, snow and even a tornado.

In the windy desert in the Navajo Nation, the southern route gathered for a couple days at the Dooda Desert Rock resistance camp. ‘Dooda’ means ‘No’ in the Navajo language, in reference to the grassroots resistance campaign against the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired steam-electric Power Plant. The Dine Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power are waiting on the air permit decision from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the project which would, according to local Dine (‘Navajo’) activists, generate air pollution equivalent to 12.5 million cars.

The EPA has one year to determine whether or not to grant a permit, according to federal law; however, the application was made in 2004. At the beginning of June, the EPA filed a consent decree in court declaring that a decision will be made by July 31, 2008, after publishing the file and soliciting public comment. At the same time, however, there has been increasing press coverage about the declining air quality in the area, due in large part to two existing power plants in the region. According to recent news coverage, San Juan County, New Mexico, reached the federal standard for maximum ozone levels this past week. An EPA report stated that in the year 2000 alone, the existing power plants and coal mines in the county released 13 million pounds of toxic chemicals, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and airborne mercury.

Dine elders in the areas most directly threatened began organizing in opposition to the proposed power plant in 2003 and the Dooda Desert Rock Committee was created in 2004. A resistance camp has been present near the proposed power plant site for the past few years. The basis of their opposition includes environmental and health concerns, but another principal concern is tha fact that the proposed site for the plant is immediately adjacent to a sacred burial ground.

“We want to make sure this doesn’t happen,” said Elouise Brown, a local Dine community leader at the forefront of the grassroots resistance to the project. She explained that at the beginning, only a small handful of people were involved and that she would be alone out at the site: “I would just sit there and cry and pray.”

Over the last few years, the resistance camp and the campaign have been receiving visitors and supporters such as the Longest Walk 2. Brown explained to the Walk that many others from neighbouring towns and further abroad have also been supporting the Dooda Desert Rock campaign: “They felt that if this was happening in their hometown, they wouldn’t want it going on.”

Dennis Banks explained that he had grown up in a military boarding school and always dreamed of a military career. When he enlisted and was over in Japan, thousands of people would come out every day to protest the expansion of a U.S. military base. The U.S. troops would watch as the Japanese police hit people’s heads “like coconuts.”

“We said they would never win. How could they fight the U.S. government?” asked Banks, comparing the situation to the one facing the local Dine activists opposing the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. But in Japan, in the end, “they halted. They defeated the U.S. Air Force. […] Now the farmland is booming with crops. On that side, the grass and wheat are growing up through the runways.”

Decades after leaving the armed forces and becoming one the leaders of the American Indian Movement, Banks spoke from the other side of the fence, this time the one surrounding the proposed power plant site, while looking over the spectacular desert in the direction of the sacred burial ground: “This is the way it should be left, just like this. It’s beautiful.”

“It’s almost asinine that archaeologists, anthropologists, mining people… come here and tell the ancestral inhabitants that there are no burial grounds here. […] Their interest is to grab the land.”

“It is being destroyed in the name of economic development, by people who do not live here or care about the area at all,” remarked Don Lindley, a Dine park ranger working at Mesa Verde in the Four Corners area.

He explained that what is occurring today is a continuation of decades and centuries of history. Interested in the resources on and in native lands, the U.S. government imposed the Tribal Council government system beginning in the 1920s. In 1931, despite the fact that the depression was in full swing all over the country, the Livestock Reduction Act was passed and hundreds of cattle belonging to native people were taken away and killed, or herded away and left to decompose.

“While the rest of the United States was waiting in line at soup kitchens, they were over here terrorizing and killing our livestock,” said Lindley, further explaining that from the Act until 1956, white men working for the government rode the range enforcing the livestock quota.

The Dine began protesting the size of the reservation because it was not nearly enough land for their animals to graze. Over the years, the Navajo Nation expanded five times, reaching the edge of the Grand Canyon. In 1956, the U.S. Department of the Interior – under which, ironically, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management (including mining) – established a grazing policy for the Navajo Nation, a key document that is still in force.

With regards to the Department of Interior’s grazing policy, Lindley remarked, “it’s just like the same old house and repainting it and calling it the Navajo Nation.”

He explained that the grazing policy was drafted with these future energy and mining projects in mind; thus, the Bureau of Indian Affairs stands staunchly behind the policy, even though it takes control and autonomy away from the Dine and although their ancestors traveled with their livestock and knew how to manage the land. Lindley added that USDA programs that extend their services to the Navajo Nation are conditional on maintaining the same grazing policy.

Navajo Nation Tribal Council president Joe Shirley, Jr. – part of the Tribal Council system imposed by the U.S. government some 80 years ago, disregarding native government systems around the country that had existed for hundreds and thousands of years – has not opposed neither the Desert Rock Power Plant nor the grazing policy. However, shortly before the Longest Walk 2’s visit to the area, Shirley voiced the Navajo Nation’s clear rejection of uranium mining to a Congressional Sub-Committee hearing in Flagstaff about the ‘Community Impacts of Proposed Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon National Park.’

An April 30 Tribal Council press release quotes Shirley at the hearing: “We are doing everything we can to speak out and do something about it. We do not want a new generation of babies born with birth defects.We will not allow our people to live with cancers and other disorders as faceless companies make profits only to declare bankruptcy and then walk away from the damage they have caused, regardless of the bond they have in place.”

Uranium mining has been going on for decades in the Navajo Nation, fueling many of the nuclear weapons and nuclear power project in the United States. There has been some attention to the plight of the Dine uranium workers, the affected communities, and the alarming health problems, but instead of working to remedy the existing situation, the government is granting exploration permits for further uranium mining activities in the region.

The press release continues quoting Tribal Council president Shirley at the hearing: “Today, the legacy of uranium mining continues to devastate both the people and the land. The workers, their families, and their neighbors suffer increased incidences of cancers and other medical disorders caused by their exposure to uranium. […] The mines, many simply abandoned, have left open scars in the ground with leaking radioactive waste. The companies that processed the uranium ore dumped their waste in open – and in some cases unauthorized – pits, exposing both the soil and the water to radiation. […] The Navajo people have been consistently lied to by companies and government officials concerning the effects of various mining activities. Unfortunately, the true cost of these activities is understood only later when the companies have stolen away with their profits leaving the Navajo people to bear the health burdens.”

Just over two months after visiting Dooda Desert Rock and walking through the Navajo Nation, the Longest Walk 2 walked to the Y-12 National Security Complex just outside of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Managed for the National Nuclear Security Administration by Babcock and Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, a private corporation, the Complex has been using uranium from the Navajo Nation, among other places, for decades.

According to the sign in front of Y-12 alongside the road: “The Electromagnetic Separation Plant was a Manhattan Project facility built in 1943 to separate U-235 from U-238. Material for the first atomic bomb was produced here. In place of unavailable copper, nearly 14,000 tons of silver were borrowed from the U.S. Treasury for use on the manufacturing equipment. The plant was constructed by Stone and Webster Engineering and was operated by Tennessee Eastman from 1943-1947.”

Some 30 people walked eight miles on a rest day up to the fence at one of the entrances to the Plant. Eleven security officers in uniform walked down the driveway and watched as the Walk formed a line along the fence facing Y-12 and stood praying, drumming and chanting. Participants from different places, including Hiroshima and the Navajo Nation, shared their prayers with the Walk and the dozen local peace activists who joined them at the Complex.

“We stand against this plant that represents death and destruction,” remarked local peace activist Erik Johnson.

Activists involved with the Oak Ridge Peace and Environmental Alliance (OREPA, www.stopthebombs.org) have been gathering in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex to hold a vigil every Sunday evening for the last seven years. Others have been doing the same every Monday morning for the past five years.

While most people are aware that the bombs contructed at the Y-12 complex and elsewhere were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan by the United States at the end of the Second World War, very few are aware that literally hundreds of these bombs have been dropped on a Nation much closer to home. When asked what they think is the most bombed nation on earth, most people respond Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Lebanon, England, Iraq, or other countries. In fact, the most bombed nation on earth is the Western Shoshone Nation in Nevada, visited by the northern route of the Longest Walk 2.

In 1863, during the Civil War, Americans needed safe passage west to the gold mines in California in order to fund the war. The Treaty of Ruby Valley, a treaty of peace and friendship with the Western Shoshone covering 60 million acres, was written and signed that year. Despite the fact that there was a military camp whose soldiers were engaging in the murder and rape of Western Shoshone community members, and despite the fact that the translator told the Shoshone that if they did not agree they would all be shot, nevertheless the Treaty of Ruby Valley does not cede any territory.

Over the past 150 years, however, settlers and the U.S. government have gradually taken over the vast majority of Western Shoshone territory, leaving only tiny reservations. In 1962, the government of the Unites States established that the Western Shoshone had lost their lands through “gradual encroachment” and a decade later began suing elders for “trespassing” on their own ancestral lands. In 1979, the Indian Claims Commission allotted 26 million dollars for 24 million acres of “lost” Western Shoshone territory, who did not accept the money or the unilateral extinguishment of their Treaty rights.

According to Western Shoshone elder and Western Shoshone Defense Project (www.wsdp.org) founder Carrie Dann, some 90% of the Treaty of Ruby Valley is covered by U.S. government claims. Among these is the huge Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada, home to nuclear, biological and chemical warfare testing.From the 1950s through today, there have been over one thousand nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site, located within Nellis and also within Western Shoshone territory.

Underground plutonium testing continues at the base. Also, after September 11, 2001, a whole new facility for biological and chemical weapons testing was built on the same base. Plans for the detonation of 700 tons of explosives with a nuclear atomic warhead detonation device in June 2006 were postponed several times due to massive opposition and finally cancelled in July 2007. The exercise at the Nevada Test Site, named “Divine Strake,” would have been the largest open-air chemical explosion ever carried out by the Pentagon.

Carrie Dann recalls the impacts of some of the earlier nuclear tests in the 1970s and particularly after 1976, when “about ten percent of the calf population was deformed in some way or another.” Dann also spoke of the contamination of water in Western Shoshone communities and of health problems such as leukemia, diabetes and birth defects.

The Western Shoshone, their lands, air and water are also affected by the intensive open-pit mining activities in their territory. It is the second biggest gold mining region of the world, with dozens of companies present, including the world’s largest three gold corporations: Barrick Gold, Newmont, and Goldcorp. Baroid Drilling Fluids, a subsidiary of the infamous military industry leader Halliburton, has been mining barite and molybdenum – a metal used in steel alloys with diverse military and industrial uses.

The Western Shoshone Defense Project is currently struggling against Barrick Gold’s attempts to expand the Cortez gold mine in Horse Canyon, a very important sacred site for the Western Shoshone. Barrick announced the gold deposit ‘discovery’ in February of 2003 as one of the largest gold deposits in the United States and has been aggressively attempting to divide and buy the Western Shoshone communities and leaders in the area.

“These big corporations with billions of dollars – that’s who we’re up against,” remarked Larson Bill, a Western Shoshone community leader and Tribal Council member. “It’s kind of amazing that people in the United States, even the Congressmen, don’t know what’s going on out here. They have no clue what’s going on.”

Faced with some of the most destructive industries on the planet, such as the military and mining industries, in the video ‘Our Land, Our Life: The Struggle for Western Shoshone Land Rights’, Carrie Dann emphasizes the roots of the struggles of the Western Shoshone:

The struggle has been for Western Shoshone land rights. It’s always been Western Shoshone land rights. To a traditional indigenous person, land means life. All the things that you have – they all come from this earth.Today they call those things resources. Today those resources are taken in the name of economy, name of money. Who does that? Multinational corporations. They don’t care. They’re not going to be here tomorrow.And what do these companies care about the children of these children? They don’t care! ‘Cause they’ll be gone! Soon as they take the resources out, they will be gone.

Dann also asks all of us if we are prepared “to dedicate ourselves to the next generations to come? Or are we just ready to accept things as they are and to hell with tomorrow, to hell with the future generations? And that is one of the reasons that I try so hard to protect the rights of indigenous peoples all over the world, because they’re the ones still related to the earth. They’re still close to the earth. And they do care.”

These are the questions, issues and struggles to which the Longest Walk 2 is bringing attention, mile by mile, through reservations, towns and cities across the country. All along the way – and from further away through the Longest Walk 2 website, www.longestwalk.org – people of diverse nations, colours and countries have been walking along, making donations of all sorts, sharing their own histories and situations, and welcoming the walk into their nations, communities and homes. A Manifesto for Change to be presented to the United States government is also being compiled along the walk.

Back at Dooda Desert Rock, Dennis Banks insisted that action is the necessary next step after hearing about or witnessing the ongoing injustice and destruction: “That should be an obligation. You should use what you have learned.”

“The road begins at the bottom of your feet.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Sandra Cuffe is an independent journalist, activist, and the descendant of white European settlers. Originally from Vancouver, BC – Coast Salish Territory – she lived in Central America, working on indigenous territory, global mining, political prisoners and other issues for five years. She joined the southern route of the Longest Walk 2 this past June 11th in Chattanooga, Tennessee after a visit to the Walk at the Dooda Desert Rock camp as well as to the Western Shoshone Defense Project in early April 2008.

Feel free to forward, re-post, or otherwise distrubute this article in its entirety. Please contact the author before editing or publishing this article in print.

Author’s blog: http://thistidehasnoheartbeat.wordpress.com

Author’s email: thistidehasnoheartbeat@gmail.com

LONGEST WALK 2: www.longestwalk.org

PRISON NOTES: They Came

First For the Mohawks,

and I Didn’t Speak Up Because I

Wasn’t Mohawk…

by Sandra Cuffe, http://thistidehasnoheartbeat.wordpress.com

“The hard work and dedication of our officers in protecting the citizens of this community cannot go unnoticed.”

- Julian Fantino, Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner, commenting on Tyendinaga, as quoted in the Mohawk Nation News.

“The school that they closed down for ‘security reasons’ was full of police officers, with snipers all over the roof.”

- a Mohawk community member, describing the police occupation of Tyendinaga after Shawn Brant’s arrest on April 25, 2008.

“The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies…”

- Canadian Armed Forces, Counterinsurgency

Field Manual, draft version, 2005, page 11.

“All we ever wanted was a safe and healthy community to raise our babies, and clean drinking water.”

- Shawn Brant, Tyendinaga Mohawk spokesperson,

imprisoned in the Quinte Detention Centre

At noon last Monday, May 19th, I walked through several doors of State security into the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ontario, accompanied by Sergio Campusano, chief of the indigenous Diaguita of the Huasco Valley in northern Chile.

Sergio had spent the last month in Turtle Island (“North America”) along with Wiradjuri (“Australia”), Ipili (“Papua New Guinea”) and Western Shoshone (“USA”) indigenous leaders, all speaking out against the destructive and repressive operations of Toronto-based Barrick Gold (http://protestbarrick.net), the biggest gold mining company in the world.

Shawn Brant, on the other hand, had spent the last month in the Quinte Detention Centre. A spokesperson for the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga, Shawn was arrested (again) for a variety of trumped up charges (again) on April 25, 2008. Government prosecutors are seeking a minimum sentence of 12 years in federal prison. Several others were arrested in the ensuing siege of Tyendinaga by provincial and federal police and Mohawk community members Matt Kunkel and Clive Brant (of no relation to Shawn) are still imprisoned in the Quinte Detention Centre.

Although he is continually portrayed in the mainstream media essentially as a violent terrorist who is acting of his own accord, a broad group of elders and community members have continually designated Shawn Brant as their spokesperson. In fact, both Longhouses and even the Band Council have all supported the ongoing occupation of a gravel quarry in the Culberston Tract, an area of land that the Canadian government has publicly recognized belongs to Tyendinaga but has not returned to the Mohawk community. While there is some disagreement regarding the tactics employed to reclaim stolen Mohawk territory and get the government’s attention, there are unified objectives.

“We’re not prepared to simply stand by,” Shawn told indigenous Diaguita leader Sergio Campusano, speaking through the metal grating below the glass window keeping us apart in the visiting room in Quinte. “We feel that our very existence is depending on it.”

“I came from very far away,” Sergio responded. He explained that in South America, even indigenous leaders have the idea that indigenous peoples are treated very well in Canada.

“My eyes have been opened here,” remarked Sergio, who stated that one of his missions upon his return to Chile would be to spread the word about Shawn Brant’s case and more generally about repression against First Nations in Canada.

As the elected leader of the indigenous Diaguita community of the Huasco Valley and a staunch opponent of Barrick Gold’s plan to mine the huge gold deposits found underneath the glaciers in the mounatinous region, Sergio is unsure what the response from the Chilean government and Barrick will be to his public speaking against gold mining in his own territory. Dozens of indigenous Mapuche leaders who have been actively speaking out for their rights to territory, autonomy and freedom have been jailed under Chile’s anti-terrorism laws.

While not recognizing the Diaguita community in the Huasco Valley or its elected leaders, Barrick has already been supporting a small group of city-dwelling Diaguita who are in favour of the mine. This group has received no mandate whatsoever from the Diaguita community of some 1500 people; however, it welcomes Barrick and government officials with costumes and dances that Sergio denounces are not even from the same region. The Barrick Gold website even posted a whole new section about their community relations with “the Diaguita,” part of the company’s public relations image of “Corporate Social Responsibility.”

Thus far, Barrick has fenced off some 50,000 hectares of traditional Diaguita territory and claims it as company private property, off limits to the indigenous people who have lived there for centuries, herding animals, and gathering medicinal plants and firewood in the mountains.

“They put up a gate…” Sergio began saying as he showed slides from home at an event held at the Ottawa Public Library on May 12^th. He broke down in sobs and had to take a moment to collect himself before he could continue.

“They don’t let us go onto our land,” he explained. “This hurts me very much.”

The Diaguita community erected their own brightly painted sign at the entrance to Barrick Gold’s installations, to show the company whose territory they are invading and to express that Barrick is not welcome: ‘Home of the Huasco Altinos since 1903. Private.’

“We won’t trade this for anything. There is no money in the world to buy this,” affirmed Sergio as his hands traced over projected photographs of a mural painted on the church belltower in the local town of Alto de Carmen, the messages of resistance painted on banners carried in marches and protests, and over the the faces of some of the 260 Diaguita elders. Most of the Diaguita elders proposed Sergio as a candidate for Chief of the Diaguita community of the Huasco Valley, a position to which he has twice been elected with their blessing.

“Why don’t they let us be what we want to be?” he asked the Ottawa audience.

“It is about more than mining,” Shawn reminded Sergio during the visit at the detention centre. “Mining is just a symptom,” said Shawn – a symptom of the eradication of indigenous peoples around the world, along with the dismantling of the Mohawk tobacco distribution, resource extraction, accusations of terrorism, the taking away of our children…

“Until we’re gone,” Shawn explained, the miners, developers, governments, and others cannot come into indigenous territory and do what they please. He explained that their ancestors fought the same struggle for the chance to exist as Peoples and that the current generations must make the same sacrifice for the future generations. He also told of prophecies that speak of the unification of indigenous peoples from north to south and that their struggle will be victorious if people have the courage to stand up and fight.

Faced with the onslaught of mining in their territory, a few years ago the Huasco Valley Diaguita community put out a call for international solidarity and especially for global indigenous solidarity. They received a response from the Manitoba Assembly of First Nations. Ron Evans, Grand Chief of the MAFN flew down to Chile and was welcomed in a ceremony in which the Diaguita and MAFN signed an International Agreement of Mutual Aid.

Later, however, the Diaguita learned that the MAFN had used their agreement to propose a multi-million dollar project to Barrick Gold. The Diaguita community sent word to the MAFN that they were to come immediately to the Huasco Valley to explain themselves to the Diaguita community. When Ron Evans did not return to Chile to clarify the situation, the Diaguita informed all involved that the agreement was null and void.

The visit of the MAFN to Diaguita territory for this pro-mining purpose is not an isolated incident. Ron Evans has reportedly traveled to several Latin American countries on similar missions. The use of First Nations Band Council leaders by Canadian mining corporations and the Canadian government itself to convince indigenous communities in other countries to accept mining is commonplace these days. Another example occurred in December 2004 in Guatemala, when Tahltan Band Council chief Jerry Asp was an invited speaker on the Community Relations panel of a conference about mining co-sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala City, the World Bank, and the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines.

While Jerry Asp told Guatemalans of the development and riches that mining had brought to the Tahltan Nation in northern British Columbia, Tahltan communities were gathering in assemblies and decreeing community moratoriums against all mining and oil activities in their territory. Fifteen elders were arrested for disobeying a court injunction against their road blockade against a Fortune Coal Ltd, which wanted to develop a massive coal deposit near Dease Lake – a situation strikingly similar to that of the six leaders of the Kitchenumahkoosib Inninuwug Nation in northern Ontario who were jailed this past March for their blockade against Platinex Inc. Tahltan Nation Band Council chief Asp was forced to leave office when Tahltan elders, women, and other community members occupied his office in Telegraph Creek, demanding his resignation.

“We consider them traitors in our midst,” said Shawn, with regards to Evans, Asp, and the Assembly of First Nations in general, explaining that the Mohawk traditional system of governance – founded on values of sovereignty, honesty and integrity – has existed for thousands of years and still exists alongside the Band Council system imposed by the Canadian government.

“The Assembly of First Nations is a government of Canada Indian organization that supports the government of Canada and does nothing to support the Mohawk and other nations,” Shawn explained to Sergio.

Albeit perhaps begrudgingly, the Canadian Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has had to support the Kitchenumahkoosib Inninuwug (KI) Nation’s political prisoners because the “KI 6” are the KI Nation’s Band Council leaders and thus members of the AFN. They are also, however, legitimate leaders in their own communities. KI Chief Donny Morris, Deputy Chief Jack McKay, Councillors Samuel McKay and Darry Sainawap, Bruce Sakakeep and grandmother and Head Councillor Cecilia Begg were all jailed in March 2008 because of their refusal – despite a court injunction – to lift the KI blockade against the entry of Platinex into their territory.

“We got a five-day leave from our jail sentence of six months,” Chief Donny Morris explained yesterday in Toronto. “We want to determine our own future, our own destiny.”

There is a longstanding debate about the interpretation of indigenous peoples’ right to ‘consultation’ before any ‘development’ projects begin in their territory. While governments and corporations insist that ‘consultation’ means simply informing communities of their plans, indigenous activists insist on their right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Some, such as the KI 6 and the Tahltan elders, put themselves literally on the line in road blockades in order to fight for that right.

“They said we had no business saying no,” said Sam McKay, KI Councillor on Lands and the Environment. “We want to try to establish our sovereignty over our traditional territory.”

As KI community leader John Cutfeet said to KI Head Councillor and political prisoner Cecilia Begg last year, regarding the fight for the right to say no: “First Nations gained the right to sit at the table, but they don’t have the right to leave the table.”

Concerning the upcoming appeal hearing about their case, Sam McKay insists that they are ready to go back to jail to make their statement: “We’re hoping for the best, but we’re preparing for the worst.”

First Nations activists at the Gathering in Queen’s Park reportedly publicly requested that Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief of the AFN, destroy the agreements he has made with mining companies, and refused to allow him to speak on stage at the opening of the four-day Gathering of Mother Earth Protectors in Queen’s Park, on the lawn in front of the Ontario legislature. They did, however, permit him to take part in a press conference the following day, May 27, in order to voice his support.

“We support the right of First Nations that don’t want development to say no to development. That is their right. There are communities who want development and they ought to be supported as well. We have an obligation and responsibility to this incredibly diverse First Nations community that we represent. This is how we conduct our business. This is how we carry out responsibilities,” explained Fontaine.

While many people in First Nations communities challenge the representation of the Band Council system, the Assembly of First Nations and the right of Phil Fontaine to speak on their behalf, the Ardoch Algonquin Nation does not even have that option. The Ardoch Algonquin are one of several First Nations with no official status in Canada and thus no recognized land base, no reservation, no Band Council, and no recognized representation.

The Ardoch are one of three co-organizers of the May 26-29 Gathering in Queen’s Park, along with the KI Nation and Grassy Narrows, where the First Nation has been actively and militantly struggling against logging for decades. A delegation of approximately 60 community members left Grassy Narrows on April 30^th and walked over 1800km on foot in less than a month from their territory near Kenora, Ontario, to Queen’s park.

“Our community is a prime example of what development can do,” a Grassy Narrows leader told the crowd gathered at Queen’s Park on May 27. Thirty years of logging and paper mills have polluted the rivers with mercury and other contaminants, destroying the community’s subsistance and economy.

“When our trappers go to our trap lines, all the trees are gone,” explained the Grassy Narrows representative. “[The government] gave a company a license to do business in our territory without consultation whatsoever.”

“People need to have a say about what goes on in their territory.”

The Ardoch Algonquin don’t have to look far for examples of the negative impacts industries such as logging and mining in First Nations communities. Despite their lack of recognition, status, or treaty, the Ardoch have stood up to voice their resounding opposition to uranium exploration and mining in their territory. Like the Tahltan elders, the KI 6, and Shawn Brant, former Ardoch chief and community leader Robert Lovelace was jailed in February for this opposition and is currently serving a six-month sentence in Peterborough, Ontario.

According to Toronto-based activist Paul York in his written reflections about the opening of the “Mother Earth Protectors” tent city at Queen’s Park, Lovelace “has called for the solidarity of all groups, and for the inclusion of Tyendinaga as an issue.”

While many First Nations leaders, community members and supporters have spoken out in support of Tyendinaga, Shawn Brant and the other jailed Mohawk activists, their voices are not being officially heard at the Gathering in Queen’s Park. This is by no means a criticism of the decisions and strategies of the KI Nation, Ardoch Algonquin, Grassy Narrows or any other sovereign nation. Non-indigenous individuals and organizations in Canada, however, should stand up to support all indigenous political prisoners and all First Nations struggles in defense of their territories.

On the train ride back from the Quinte Detention Centre, I was reminded of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem about the complicity of Germans in general in the Nazi holocaust. Although it may not be the most appropriate analogy for the situation concerning First Nations, given the involvement of the Churches in genocide through the residential school system, I find it to be a strong condemnation against the complicit apathy of others and a moving call for solidarity that can speak to non-indigenous Canadians:

They came first for the Communists,

And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

And I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Thus, first they came for Shawn Brant and the Mohawks. Some people have spoken up: Tyendinaga community leaders, Six Nations, First Nations activists and supporters in Coast Salish Territory, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), the Tyendinaga Support Committee, anarchists in Ontario and Quebec, the International Solidarity Committee of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and many others.

Many more, however, have spoken out to support the KI 6, Bob Lovelace, and their respective demands, actions and territories. A broad base of First Nations and non-indigenous support has formed, including several municipalities. Even the City of Ottawa has spoken out to support the Ardoch Algonquin and their rejection of uranium mining activities. Many unions, organizations and individuals in Ontario and across Canada have also spoken out. However, when public calls for the freedom of the KI 6 and Bob Lovelace are made, the lack of solidarity with Shawn Brant, Matt Kunkel and Clive Brant is a silence that is audible to anyone who knows that they are also in jail.

Many claim that the militant actions of Shawn Brant, Tyendinaga, and/or the Mohawk First Nations in general have “alienated” white settler support. Others claim that the longstanding solidarity of OCAP and the local anarchist community is the “alienating” factor. Others claim that Tyendinaga’s actions to reclaim the Culberston Tract, which includes majority white settler towns, is “alienating” supporters.

During a direct action in the past, Shawn Brant was asked on video if he thought that the more militant direct action tactics would “alienate” potential supporters. He responded that the majority of people have never supported Tyendinaga or the Mohawk communities; there is therefore no need to worry about alienating their support. He also stated that of those who support them and their position, unconditional support was requested with regards to their actions. Respect for a diversity of tactics is not widely accepted by the majority of activists and organizations, let alone the Canadian public. However, the insistance of many for protest through ‘non-violent’ dialogue, ‘peaceful’ marches and negotiations is not in tune with the reality facing Tyendinaga and many other Mohawk and First Nations communities on a day-to-day basis.

“When the land being negotiated is being sold and developed, what’s the use of talking?” asked Bob Lovelace on a recording played to the over one thousand people gathered at the opening of the Gathering in Queen’s Park on May 26^th. “It’s time to fight. The lines have been drawn and there’s no middle ground.”

Regarding the ongoing negotiations with the government over land claims, Lovelace said: “Too much talk and not enough action.”

“Tactics, of course, are contextual,” explained Magaly San Martin of the Tyendinaga Support Committee in a presentation at the International Solidarity Forum the evening of May 22^nd during the CUPE Ontario annual convention. “It depends on what you are facing… [The Mohawks have used] economic disruption to bring the attention of the federal government to their plight.”

“What we hear in the media is often not what’s going on,” added San Martin.

The mainstream media, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Armed Forces, and the provincial and federal governments have all been sending the same message. As one participant in a Tyendinaga Support Committee workshop put it, they would have us believe that Shawn Brant single-handedly lifts a school bus onto the train tracks. They would also have us believe that Shawn Brant is dangerous, violent, and fearsome. They would have us believe that Mohawk activists and spokespeople from Tyendinaga and Six Nations need to be jailed for a long time. The details of the actual situations and criminal charges matter little in the media.

Mohawk communities and leaders have long been singled out and targeted for their militant resistance and defense of their territory. This focus has also spread to progressive organizations and individuals through conditioning by the media. While many remember the images of armed Mohawks in fatigues and balaclavas defending their territory during the Oka stand-off in 1990, fewer remember the images of heavily armed Canadian soldiers and police forcibly trying to remove blockades and enter sovereign First Nations territory at Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafsen, Grassy Narrows, Six Nations, Tyendinaga, and many other territories.

In fact, the Mohawk Warrior Society was the only domestic organization singled out in a 2005 draft version of the Canadian Armed Forces’ Counterinsurgency Field Manual, identified along with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the Taliban. While the inclusion of some of these groups as insurgencies may also be a matter of debate, the inclusion of the Mohawk is appalling. Written and used as a training tool for the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, the label of a group as ‘insurgents’ implies permission for the use of countersinurgency tactics such as psychological warfare and targeted assassination.

Page 11 of the draft manual reads:

The rise of radical Native American Organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited aims. Although they do not seek complete control of the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve (“First Nation”) level, through the threat of, or use of, violence.

Given the broad legal definition of ‘violence’ by the police to include property ‘violence’ and any protest activity the police themselves deem as ‘violent’, this definition could place a political graffiti artist or a Council of Canadians march in the category of ‘insurgencies.’ The actual definition of an ‘insurgency’ in the draft version of the manual is: “the actions of a minority group within a state who are intent on forcing political change by means of a mixture of subversion, propaganda and military pressure, aiming to persuade or intimidate the broad mass of people to accept such a change.”

When these and similar quotes were reported by IPS, which obtained a copy, and Mohawk Nation News, there was – appropriately – a public outcry by a wide variety of First Nations and other organizations, including even Phil Fontaine of the AFN. Then Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor was forced to announce the withdrawal of any mention of the Mohawk Warrior Society or any domestic First Nations organization in the final version of the Counterinsurgency Field Manual. However, the Canadian Armed Forces had already made their position clear through the original inclusion.

A more recent demonstration of the targeting of the Mohawk by Canadian “security” forces is an RCMP report citing the federal government’s decision to dedicate police “to fighting contraband, which [Canadian Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day] said is funding organized crime and possibly even terrorists.” The “organized crime” and “terrorists” refered to by Stockwell Day, of course, are the same “insurgents” refered to by the RCMP: Mohawk community activists and spokespeople like Shawn Brant.

‘Arosen,’ one of the Tyendinaga community members with a gag order as a bail condition for a previous arrest related to his community activism, commented on the Mohawk tobacco sales: “They call it smuggling. We call it economic development.” With the seven million dollars that were coming in annually as a result of tobacco sales to Tyendinaga, a community of approximately 2200 people, the “terrorists” funded “organized crime” such as the building of a stone Longhouse. In this Longhouse, the Mohawk youth formed a Youth Council and are learning traditional songs from their elders and are singing and drumming at both Longhouses in Tyendinaga.

According to another Tyendinaga community member, even the traditional songs and drums are manipulated by the media to demonize the Mohawk: “They say our drum is a war drum. That is not true. Our drum is a peaceful drum. […] These songs are from our heart. They’re friendship songs.”

Meanwhile, the government would spend its money on “development” such as further policing. A deal has been made between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Tyendinaga Band Council to split the costs of a two million dollar, 5000 square foot, bullet proof police station right next to the elementary school in the community. As there are currently four police officers in Tyendinaga, community members suspect the plans are for the subversion of local reservation policing by building a larger police station so that OPP and RCMP police officers can take over. According to Tyendinaga community activist Niki Storms, this already happened in late April: “They totally undermined our own police forces. They took out our chief of police.”

The recent incidents at Tyendinaga and the gravel quarry have their roots in centuries of history. In 1832, the Culberston Tract was stolen from Tyendinaga. In 2003, the federal government acknowledged that the Tract belongs to the Mohawk community, but has yet to give it back. While land negotiations were ongoing, the government granted a mining license to Thurlow Aggregates, a non-native business that developed a gravel quarry within the Culberston Tract.

“It’s our land, which was stolen 175 years ago,” confirmed ‘Arosen.’ Niki explained that the community tried to halt mining activity while land negotiations were going on, but the government did not listen. Thurlow was hauling away “tons and tons of our land, every day,” while at the same time Tyendinaga was expected to sit through years of land negotiations about the very same land being trucked out of the community – one thousand tons a year, according to the Tyendinaga Support Committee.

In February 2006, the Mohawk community of Six Nations re-occupied a housing project being built on their territory. When the OPP entered the area and attempted to remove and raid the blockade, many Mohawk community members from Tyendinaga blocked the CN railway for twelve hours in solidarity with Six Nations, demanding the withdrawal of the OPP. In November 2006, a similar action was taken near Tyendinaga to highlight the theft of the Culberston Tract. While there may be some disagreement regarding tactics, both Longhouses and the Band Council are united in their goal of reclaiming both the Culberston Tract and the gravel quarry located within it. Charges were laid against Shawn Brant for these actions.

In late 2006, the June 29, 2007 national “Days of Action” were originally proposed by Chief Terrance Nelson and subsequently approved by the AFN and many First Nations communities. The original proposal included a call for economic disruption and blockades of the national rail lines. Later, however, the AFN backtracked and called for peaceful marches and actions without any disruption.

In November 2006, according to an article (Refusing to Be Silent: Economic Disruption in Indian Country) by Shawn Brant’s wife Sue Collis:

The Mohawk community of Tyendinaga – in response to unresolved land claims, polluted drinking water, overwhelming poverty and suicides in all First Nations communities – launched a campaign… It announced a plan of rotating economic disruption. The campaign started with road closures and business disruptions. In March, a quarry on Mohawk land was taken over and permanently closed. April 20^th the CN main line was closed for 30 hours and on June 29^th, the CN main line, highway 2 and Highway 401 were simultaneously targeted and closed for a 24-hour period. And the message resonated. In the lead up and wake of June 29^th, Aboriginal issues enjoyed enormous support from the Canadian public with Angus Reid showing 71% of Canadians wanting actions on land claims and 41% of Ontarians prepared to acknowledge rail blockades as justified given the current landscape.

There is an apparent contradiction between the media’s portrayal of Shawn Brant as a renegade Mohawk with no real community support. How would one man or even a small group of people simultaneously block two highways and the national rail line, while at the same time maintaining the occupation of the gravel quarry in the Culberston Tract?

On June 29^th, during Tyendinaga’s blockades a massive show of force was displayed near Tyendinaga. According to reports, six Canadian Armed Forces’ tanks and hundreds of OPP police officers were ready to be deployed against the Mohawk activists. Luckily, someone had more sense that day than to attack a community that had announced that there would be a response in the event of such an armed attack. However, a few days later, Shawn Brant was the sole target of criminal charges for “mischief” related to the Days of Action and spent four weeks in jail and was later released on bail with a series of conditions.

In late April 2008, Kingston realtor Emile Nibourg announced plans for construction on the Culberston Tract, writing that he would bring “25 to 30 guys” along with him. The Mohawk community response was to shut down the roads adjacent to the planned construction site. Although OPP SWAT teams were sent in and drew their weapons on the blockaders, Nibourg eventually abandoned his plans in the area.

On April 21, 2008, a young child came running to Shawn to tell him that his grandmother and another Mohawk woman were being attacked by racist picketers. Shawn came to the traffic stop where white men holding racist picket signs were threatening and insulting the women and swinging their signs at them. According to Tyendinaga community members present at the time, OPP officers stood by, watching and filming the incident. When confronted by community members about their inaction in the face of the threats and attacks against the women, an OPP officer reportedly told them that it was the picketers’ “right” to protest.

Shawn Brant came to the scene and stood between the women and the picketers and told them to get lost. Although a formal denunciation of the incident was made by the Mohawk community women, no charges were ever laid against the racist picketers. A whole slew of charges, including various counts of uttering death threats and possession of a dangerous weapon (a fishing spear during fishing season) were laid against Shawn Brant for his intervention to protect the women and children of his community.

While the mainstream media and the police have repeatedly reported that Shawn was arrested during a traffic stop, and that “during Mr. Brant’s arrest, two officers were allegedly confonted by a group of people and assaulted.” These are, quite simply, bold-faced lies. Shawn Brant was arrested on April 25^th during an interview with the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN) and his entire arrest was caught on video and was aired on the APTN news program.

The Mohawk community of Tyendinaga responded to the arrest with blockades and actions. A tense stand-off with the OPP ensued and lasted for four days. Community witnesses report hundreds of OPP and RCMP officers and SWAT teams from as far away as Peterborough, Niagara Falls, and a number of other Ontarian cities. They estimate that since April 21^st, the OPP – ie, tax-payers in Ontario – have spent eight million dollars on police repression. “It’s staggering,” said Tyendinaga activist Niki Storms, adding that this has been “kept away from people.”

“We were at gunpoint for four days. We were not allowed to leave the quarry,” said Arosen, explaining that for those four days from April 26-29, the year-long Mohawk occupation of the gravel quarry was effectively under siege by over 300 police officers and no one was allowed to leave or enter for food, water, or any other reason. “It was terrifying…”

“My rights were totally violated. My son couldn’t sleep for days, knowing that I was in there,” remarked another Tyendinaga community member. “This is hard – very hard, ‘cause it’s just like I’m there now, again.”

“There were rifles, machine guns, snipers, helicopters, undercover police agents sneaking around at night…”

A SWAT team even detained a school bus full of Tyendinaga high school students who must travel off the reservation in order to continue their studies after elementary school.

“They were pulled over by a SWAT team and searched,” denounced Niki Storms. When a Mohawk youth at the back of the bus asked what they were looking for, a police officer responded “terrorists.”

“They’re looking for terrorists on a bus full of kids,” said Storms. “They’re afraid of us. They’re afraid of our power.”

“Don’t underestimate the Mohawks’ resolve and sheer passion,” added Arosen. “Mohawks have never sold their land, or ceded, or given away. Ever!”

“The school that they closed down for ‘security reasons’ was full of police officers, with snipers all over the roof,” added another Tyendinaga community member who was under siege at the quarry, adding that on April 29^th, “you couldn’t see anything but police cars.”

At that point, “there were no natives blockading the road,” explained Storms. “There were police blocking the road.”

Several Tyendinaga community members – mostly women – had come down to the road to see what was going on. They peacefully negotiated with the police for permission to cross the police lines to get to their vehicles to move them out of the way and go home.

“They had been given permission to cross the line,” said Storms. However, when the women accompanied by a few men actually crossed the police line to return to their vehicles, “the police jumped our men. I’m talking 4 to 5, 6 cops [taking down each man…] My brother was lifted off the ground, flew into a ditch.”

Niki Storms and others had called her parents to inform them that their youngest son, Matt Kunkel, had been arrested. When her parents arrived and her mother demanded to see her son to make sure he was alive, an OPP officer asked them if they would like to see their son. He led them to a police car, but as soon as they looked inside and started to protest that it was not their son, they were both arrested and shoved into the same police car.

The elder couple was later released, in order to appease the community’s anger over the arrest of a grandmother and grandfather. Niki Storms angrily explained that a photograph of the OPP officer walking alongside her mother was published with the caption: “lady led away to safety,” despite the fact that her mother was led away by the police to jail! The couple was released without charges but with a series of conditions. However, their vehicle had been impounded, but instead of picking it up from the police station or from some other public authority, they were directed to a white farmer’s field, where they had to pay the farmer over $200 in order to get their vehicle back.

“Four of our men were arrested that day,” said Storms, fighting back tears. She explained that even though the men were laying face down at gunpoint with their arms and legs tied, hundreds of police still drew their M-16s and other weapons on the women, children and men of Tyendinaga. She added that a Toronto Star photograph of the scene at the time covers such a small area that the hundreds of police officers with their weapons drawn and the arrested men lying at gunpoint on the ground were all – clearly intentionally – excluded. Police were taking the journalists away from the area, and were attempting to take away people’s cell phones and cameras.

“Our kids were scared. I was scared,” said Niki Storms. The collective trauma became apparent in the Tyendinaga Mohawk community members’ testimonies and the darting eyes of the children listening to the horror they had lived through only a month earlier.

In light of the situation, the comments of OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, who has been a key figure in the police demonization and repression against the Mohawk and particularly Shawn Brant, speaks for itself: “The hard work and dedication of our officers in protecting the citizens of this community cannot go unnoticed.”

Several Tyendinaga community members have been released with conditions. Shawn Brant, Clive Brant, and Matt Kunkel, however, are still detained in Napanee, pending trial.

When asked by this journalist at the May 27^th press conference in Queen’s Park for his position or comments on the three Tyendinaga Mohawk in the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, one of whom is facing a minimum of 12 years for his defence of community members from a racist attack, Phil Fontaine of the Canadian Assembly of First Nations responded: “I wasn’t aware of the situation you described. To be fair to all concerned, I’d like to have some details before I can respond to that.”

While hundreds upon hundreds have gathered at Queen’s Park to show support for the KI 6 and demand the freedom of Bob Lovelace, three Mohawk community members remain in detention for their activism on similar issues. It is unclear when any of them may be released. Shawn Brant is being denied bail until his trial, which will likely begin in mid-June.

“All we ever wanted was a safe and healthy community to raise our babies, and clean drinking water,” remarked Shawn to Sergio during the detention centre visit.

After Shawn was denied bail in 2007, his wife Sue Collis wrote the following in her article Refusing to Be Silent:

As I drove home, I found myself contemplating the best way to tell my children that they would have to wait an unknown period of time before seeing their Dad, and wondering how to explain (to a seven and five year old) why that this was the case.

As the reality of our severed family hit me, I reminded myself how much worse it is for the thousands of families in First Nations communities who lose their babies to CAS (the Children’s Aid Society) because they don’t have enough money to feed them. Or the mothers who bathe their babies in water that is just as likely to make them sick as it is to clean them. Or for the families who face the horrible grief of burying their children after they take their own lives rather than live on without hope for anything better.

And thinking about that, I was of course reminded about why Shawn is in jail to begin with: because the Canadian Government recognizes that my husband is a person who can put a voice to that suffering. Shawn has been at the forefront of carving out a National platform that exposed Canada’s dismal and embarassing record towards First Nations peoples. For perhaps the first time, an environment was being created where Canadians at large cared whether First Nations children lived or died.

Niki Storms reports that they had trouble getting the Tyendinaga detainees in touch with the lawyers, because the detention centre was neither passing on messages nor allowing the detainees to make any telephone calls. Her letters in Mohawk to her brother Matt Kunkel have been returned from Quinte, with a note saying that if she can’t write in English, then not to bother writing. She also reports that Shawn, Clive and Matt are being held in the maximum-security wing of the detention centre and have not been permitted to smudge, hold a ceremony, or burn sacred tobacco.

On May 28^th, as this article was being written, an Ontario appeal court reduced the sentences of Bob Lovelace and the KI 6 from six months to time served. Lovelace spent his first day out of jail since February at the march from Queen’s Park down to a park near the shore of the lake on Thursday, May 29^th, the same day that the Assembly of First Nations held this year’s national day of action to raise awareness about aboriginal issues, especially child poverty. Rallies, marches and actions took place in Ottawa, Halifax, Chilliwack, Winnipeg, and many other places.

Not all news was good news, however. On May 27^th, in the Quinte Regional Detention Centre, Shawn Brant was put on a 12-day 23 hours-a-day lock-down for a “misconduct”: the ceremonial burning of sage in his cell. The Tyendinaga Support Committee released an update with the news, commenting:

While regular Chapel services and bible study are available, and the med cart rolls around three times daily, Aboriginal inmates are all but denied access to their religious practice and medicine. In the five weeks that Shawn has been at the Detention Centre, he has been permitted yard time to conduct ceremony only three times. Frustrated by the seeming lack of interest by the institution to support a regularized program that would observe the cultural and religious rights of Aboriginal inmates, Shawn notified prison staff that he would undertake to perform the ceremony in his cell. Shortly thereafter, he was brought before a Lieutenant, who informed him that he had no rights while inside, and who termed the burning of sage as a health and safety issue.

“We are complicit, as settlers in Turtle Island,” asserted Magaly San Martin of the Tyendinaga Support Committee. “We are complicit with the government if we don’t take a stand.”

Magaly’s remarks echo those of Pastor Niemöller concerning the complicity of inaction in the face of awareness. It has been a long time since I felt so much simultaneous outrage and sadness. The situation is both incredibly sad and outrageous and it is happening right here, right now. Standing up and speaking out is the least that we can do.

“Colonialism is embedded in our Constitution, the law, and in our minds,” explained Bob Lovelace in his taped message from prison to the ‘Mother Earth Protectors’ tent city supporters at Queen’s Park. “And I say that any political party in Canada that perpetuates colonialism is not fit to govern.”

“I am speaking about the power to transform fear into trust. […] The way of the warrior can be taken up by a little girl at the back of the bus. […] It’s time to fight. The battle lines have been drawn and there’s no middle ground. […] Real warriors must act beyond the barricades to be effective.”

“Sadly, we share the same issues and the same efforts to wipe us out,” Shawn Brant told Sergio Campusano through the prison glass back at the Quinte Detention Centre. “We’re not prepared to simply stand by.”

ENDNOTE:

I have learned that it is important to clarify who we are and where we come from when non-indigenous people speak or write about indigenous people and struggles. I am a white descendant of European settlers and was born in Burnaby, BC – unceded Coast Salish Territory. I have been an activist organizer and writer for almost a decade now. For three of the five years I lived in Central America, I worked alongside the indigenous Lenca communities of Montaña Verde, the tortured and jailed leaders from the Indigenous Communal Council, their lawyer, COPINH – the indigenous organization to which they were affiliated, Rights Action, and other national and international organizations.

While many people in Canada and the United States know about human rights violations in Guatemala, Burma, or the Congo, very few people are aware that many of these same human rights violations occur on an ongoing basis right here at home. Very few cases – such as that of American Indian Movement political prisoner Leonard Peltier – have gained widespread attention. When Peltier was originally arrested on trumped up charges, the media and governmental campaign against him was similar to today’s portrayal of Shawn Brant as a violent terrorist.

The similarities between the cases of Tyendinaga Mohawk spokesperson Shawn Brant and Montaña Verde spokesperson Marcelino Miranda are striking: the intimidation, the trumped up criminal charges, the complete siege of their communities over struggles in defence of territory, their demonization by police and the media as leaders of insurgent, guerrilla or terrorist groups, etc. I have often told people that the most important thing I learned in Honduras was the meaning of true courage, through the example of the Miranda brothers during their long three and a half years in jail. I also said that there are so few examples of courage where I am from. I stand corrected. It has been an honour to meet many very courageous people from the Tyendinaga Mohawk, KI, Ardoch, and other Nations.

I encourage everyone to visit the Tyendinaga Support Committee website to learn more about the issues and about what we can all do to speak out and take action in solidarity with the political prisoners and community: http://www.ocap.ca/supporttmt.html

Freedom For All Political Prisoners And Indigenous Prisoners Of War!

Sandra Cuffe is an independent activist and journalist. For more info and writing, visit her blog: http://thistidehasnoheartbeat.wordpress.com. She can be reached at thistidehasnoheartbeat(at)gmail.com

Report and personal reflections from the lawn of Queen’s Park

– by Paul York (Toronto supporter)

Today, while all the press cameras and microphones were trained on speakers at the press conference with the KI, AAFN reps. and others, I noticed KI/AAFN lawyer Chris Reid off to the side speaking to a tall thin man in an expensive suit. NDP leader Howard Hampton was listening in as well. The man was a deputy minister to McGuinty and he appeared to be offering the KI a large sum of money. This is quite insulting if you consider that the KI FN are not willing to sell out – they are willing to go to jail to save the land from development; they are not motivated by greed. That the government continues to try to buy them out reveals its lack of moral integrity.

The government representative was patient in his entreaties but Reid, to his credit, was not biting; as long as drilling continues, offers to negotiate are in bad faith, he said. Reid became quite heated when the government rep. wanted to separate the cases, to treat them separately; Reid accused him of resorting to the tactic of divide and conquer (the preferred tactic of colonial government throughout history). Reid, and a KI rep who was present, would have none of it: AAFN has to be included in all talks and FN communities have the right to say no. The government rep said they could be at the table, but his promise was dubious and couched in provisional rhetoric that seemed insincere.

The talk resulted in an impasse as both men waited for the press conference to end and the FN reps to join the discussion with the government. The fact that the press was there in force added weight to the FN side. As I write (3:29 p.m. Tues. May 27, 2008), all parties are in Queen’s Park, presumably talking things out.

Grand Chief Phil Fontaine is among those in these talks, but it is worth noting that he has little credibility with the KI and AAFN due to the fact that he has signed an agreement with the government to allow mining and is paid by the government – which places him in a direct conflict of interest. One of the young men I spoke to called him the “white chief.” KI and AAFN reps say he doesn’t represent them. However, he was invited by KI in order to bring him on board, to give him the chance to do exercise some integrity. They’ve asked him to rip up his agreement with mining companies; to their knowledge he has yet to do so.

Representatives from Grassy Narrows – a community poisoned by mercury from paper mills which has shut down clearcutting in their area for the last five years through blockades – were also present at Tent City. They live in the wilderness not far from Big Trout Lake where the KI reside.

The only FN group resisting development that I did not see reps for at Tent City were the Mohawks of Tyendenaga. Bob Lovelace called for their inclusion in high-level talks, in solidarity with them. Shawn Brandt and the other Mohawk leaders in jail are political prisoners are par with the KI Six and Lovelace. Lovelace recognized this and has called for solidarity of all groups, and for the inclusion of Tyendenaga as an issue.

Meanwhile, the camp itself is very lively. The day before it began, there was a buzz of activity at the Steelworker’s Hall. I showed up ready to volunteer and found a workshop on resistance to mining in Latin American with Father Marcos of Peru and an another activist from El Salvador. Both had done extraordinary work with communities to resist toxic mine tailings and human rights violations by Canadian mining companies.

For the previous three weeks, from May 1st onward I’ve been privelaged to be a supporter of an international campaign of indigenous and campensino speakers here to contest Barrick Gold and Goldcorp (see http://protestbarrick.net/ and http://www.rightsaction.org/ to learn more).

The parallel to what is happening in Ontario and abroad is extraordinary: everywhere, all over the globe, indigenous and farmer communities are risking their lives and freedom to resist Canadian mining companies. In many places in the world they are being shot by these companies outright; however it is an illusion to think that much is different here. The only difference is that here the murder is more indirect, through disease caused by water contamination.

What is also common, globally, is the great spirit and resilience of communities who resist mining to protect the health and well-being of themselves, future generations, entire ecosystems and the Earth itself. Climate change, extraction industries and the toxicity of industrial societies has led to revival of Mother Earth religions the world over, with indigenous peoples leading the way. Christian groups are now profoundly influenced indigenous respect for the Earth, which has led to the Creation theologies of Matthew Fox and Thomas Berry (and others) and to coalitions between Christian activists and FN peoples.

Despite the efforts of mining companies and governments they’ve paid off to divide and conquer, these Christian and indigenous peoples and secular activists focused on human rights and environment are joining forces everywhere to oppose mining. The challenge is to ensure that no one group undermines the others through compromise – which historically has been the case.

After lunch yesterday – all prepared by a hardworking crew of young people (all dedicated volunteers) – we set up teepees at Queen’s Park under the watchful eye of QP security. There had been extensive liaison work between QP and activists, ensuring that everything was safe, orderly and peaceful. No raids or police disruption is expected and police presence is almost non-existent – not more than a half dozen visible at the steps of QP.

Present on the grounds are about 2 dozen volunteers, several Christian Peacemakers, the AAFN leadership, many KI people, twenty young people from Grassy Narrows who walked two weeks to get here. At the rally there was a large crowd (1000+), complete with drumming, banners (which we had painted day before) and many FN speakers – including the KI Six (temporarily out of jail).

The highlight of the rally, from my point of view, was recorded tape of Lovelace speaking – it is a very moving speech reminiscent of Martin Luther King Jr.’s calls for justice and non-violent resistance to oppression. I urge you read Lovelace’s writing – they are profound statements for social justice and the need for a spiritual rebirth of the entire world. Donny Morris, Sam McCay, Cecila Biggs and the other KI Six also spoke, as did AAFN co-chiefs, Paula Sherman and Muirelle LaPointe.

Between gigs washing dishes and running errands I listened to conversations and spoke with several FN folks from the three First nations present who are doing blockades and resistance (KI, AAFN, Grassy Narrows). They all spoke very quietly but firmly against the divide and rule tactics of colonialism, were critical of Grand Chief Phil Fontaine for making a deal with the mining companies (but not openly – only when I asked them directly), and injected their conversations with a lot humour. I was deeply impressed by their resolve and very disappointed in the greed, insincerity and dishonesty of the provincial government and mining execs as they continue to dispossess FN people and destroy their lands. I spoke with Cecelia Biggs, the only woman jailed thus far. She was quite humble and surprised and moved to see so much support.

From what I can see, resistance will deepen and continue and more leaders will go to jail before this over. The Ontario government does not appear to be acting in good faith by trying to separate cases and throw money at the situation. The strength to resist this depravity will come from the people in CCAMU, the AAFN and KI and Shabot communities and others who are willing to make personal sacrifices to protect the Earth for future generations – and from the hard work and efforts of hundreds of activists and volunteers who have put their lives on hold for this cause.

Meanwhile, at the tent city of “Mother Earth Protectors” spirits are high and there is great solidarity between many diverse peoples in support of indigenous sovereignty and land claims, and against industrial pollution of Ontario’s waterways and destructiveness of industrial mining. Despite the overwhelming odds against groups like KI and AAFN, I believe we will win the fight for justice because their spirit is strong, they have solidarity, and they cannot be bought despite the best efforts the pro-mining forces set against them.

Indigenous Leaders expose Barrick Gold’s lies at a press conference after Barrick’s Annual General Meeting.

By Sakura Saunders, protestbarrick.net
Photograph: Allan Lissner

“We cannot keep elevating people out of poverty in a free enterprise society, unless institutions: be they business institutions, private institutions or pubic institutions are able to provide that kind of opportunity that to me is a fundamentality of the United Nations human rights program article #4b, when the UN was founded that every human being regardless of its place of origin, race, or gender is entitled the dignity of pulling himself or his family out of poverty, and I’m very proud to say that Barrick has done that to thousands and thousands of people.” – Peter Munk, Barrick Annual General Meeting, 2008

Hearing Peter Munk’s statement at this year’s annual general meeting (AGM) for Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold miner, one might think that they were listening to the accolades of a global development organization. It was their show, and Barrick used this once-a-year opportunity with shareholders to further their branding as the “Socially Responsible” mining giant, boasting community programs and infrastructure development near their mine sites.

The Barrick love-fest didn’t last long, however, as the first person to speak in the obligatory Q&A session was a representative from a human rights organization near Barrick’s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea. “Your mine has destroyed our ancestral land, our sacred places, and our gardens, which we need to feed ourselves. You dump your mine waste directly into our river system contaminating 600 km of river all the way to the sea,” explained Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of Akali Tange Association, in a speech aimed directly at Munk.

He continued, “Your security guards have been shooting and killing our people and raping, even gang-raping, our women with impunity for years now… When will Barrick agree to move the more than 5,000 families who live within your mine lease in a way that is fair and will provide us an opportunity to be healthy, to feed our families, and to educate our children?”

Following Jethro in the Q&A session were indigenous leaders from Wiradjuri in Australia and the Western Shoshone from the U.S., each representing communities affected by Barrick’s operations, and each with a vision that differed greatly from Barrick’s self-propagated benevolence.

The appearance of these indigenous leaders at Barrick’s AGM is the consequence of increasing international networking between mining-affected communities. Barrick’s AGM was just one stop on a speaking tour that traveled from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, through Toronto and Ottawa, and finally on to Montreal. The tour comprised of speaking events representing five different Indigenous communities, including community leaders from Papua New Guinea, Chile, Australia, Tanzania, and the U.S. – all adversely affected by Barrick’s operations.

Throughout the tour, indigenous participants made connections about the mining company’s tactics in suppressing dissident voices, dividing communities, manipulating local and national politics and spinning their message to the mainstream press.

“Barrick negotiated in secret with five unauthorised Wiradjuri,” Neville “Chappy” Williams told the room of shareholders. Neville is a Wiradjuri elder and spokesperson for Mooka and Kalara United Families, who hold the only continuing native title claim to the Lake Cowal area, where Barrick is mining an ancient ephemeral lake and Wiradjuri sacred site. However, Barrick negotiated exclusively with a small group of Wiradjuri who filed a previous title claim to the area that has since been discontinued. “Barrick claims a good record in negotiating with Wiradjuri, but this is not true and the main negotiator, Percy Knight, was on a suspended sentence for fraud when he signed the deal. Now the entire Wiradjuri nation is supposedly bound to this agreement but no-one else can see it, even though we have tried to get a copy under Freedom of Information.”

After the shareholder’s meeting, Anga Atalu, the Secretary for the Porgera Landowners Association in Papua New Guinea, remarked that he found it funny that Barrick specifically mentioned building schools for local communities, “the only school for our community was buried by mine waste 6 years ago,” he said.

These ironic twists of rhetoric were common when confronting Barrick. Looking through the “Barrick Responsibility Report” that was handed to each shareholder, Sergio Campusano, the President of the Diaguita Huascoaltino Indigenous and agricultural community in Chile, pointed to the headline “The Diaguita Community.” The paragraph that followed suggested that Barrick was “working in partnership with the Diaguita community of the Huasco Alto near our Pascua-Lama project, developing programs that contribute to the strengthening of their culture and traditions.”

Apparently, Barrick had aligned itself with a Diaguita cultural center unrepresentative of the living Diaguita culture adjacent to the Pascua Lama project. Barrick had recognized Campusano as the legitimate leader of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos until he asked Barrick to leave the area. Barrick then funded his opponent in the community’s election last year. But, despite the imbalance of resources in the electoral battle, Sergio was elected last year to another term. Now, the corporation is promoting Diaguita from other areas as legitimate leaders who can provide consent to the project.

“Barrick Gold says that they want to help the poor, but we don’t want their helping hand, we want their hands off our mountains,” said Sergio Campusano of the stance of his community. “Barrick asked us what we wanted, and we told them that we only wanted one thing, that they leave.”

If a legitimate resistance exists, but the press does not report it…

The webcast of the shareholder meeting conveniently censored the entire Q&A session, which included other shareholder’s presenting a resolution involving the environmental impacts of the Pascua Lama project. The Canadian press also chose to ignore the presence of the community leaders, as not one article about the meeting even mentioned complaints were voiced within the meeting. This happened despite the fact that they had personally given press packets to the Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Toronto Sun and contacted the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star by phone and e-mail. The Barrick shareholder meeting was even held within the same building that houses the CBC. Yet, instead of acknowledging the presence of these legitimate complaints, the CBC chose to air a flattering interview with Munk that Friday, musing over his business career and philanthropy.

The experience drove home the challenge that lay before the community leaders and their international solidarity hosts. The fight to hold Canadian corporations abroad accountable for violations in human rights included the struggle to hold the Canadian media itself responsible for reporting on Canadian companies abroad. Canada is home to 60 per cent of the world’s mining corporations, and yet no laws exist in Canada to ensure these corporations respect human rights. The issues here highlighted with Barrick Gold are just an intersection of a mass of problems that exist with Canadian mining companies around the world and even within Canada.

Near the end of the “Indigenous Resistance to Barrick” tour, the communities fighting Barrick teamed up with groups from Honduras and Guatemala who had also come to Canada to attend Goldcorp’s annual meeting and express their complaints about Goldcorp’s operations on their lands. With joint public speaking events and a protest outside of the shareholders meeting, the delegations sent a clear message to the few who would listen that these problems are not a case of one bad apple, but are symptomatic of a system within which these abuses are inevitable.

Barrick’s board of directors includes former Canadian PM Brain Mulroney. Barrick gold’s adjusted net income in 2007 totaled $1,733,000,000.

–
website:protestbarrick.net

“Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human rights standards, including the rights of workers and of indigenous peoples.”
– Canada’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. June 2005

“Canadian mining companies are taking advantage of [inadequate and poorly enforced regulatory controls] to expand into all corners of the globe, manipulating, slandering, abusing, and even killing those who dare to oppose them, displacing Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, supporting repressive governments and taking advantage of weak ones, and contaminating and destroying sensitive ecosystems.”
– Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada. November 2006

On May 20th, dozens of protesters gathered outside the King Edward hotel in Toronto, Canada, where Canadian mining company Goldcorp was having its annual general meeting. Along with several supporters, Honduran and Guatemalan community leaders Carlos Amador and Fausto Valiente, both from Goldcorp open pit gold mine affected regions in Honduras and Guatemala respectively, addressed the shareholders inside the AGM.

Videos of the protest can be seen on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP4OU9As_QE&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQ5Ul5Rgag

A few photos of the protest can be found on Indymedia: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/906887.shtml

Articles in English:
http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/1855/849/
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page68?oid=53349&sn=Detail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080521.wrgoldcorp21/BNStory/energy/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080521.wrgoldcorp21

Background info:
http://www.rightsaction.org/Reports/Mining_Goldcorp_BW_042608.pdf

Articles in Spanish: http://noticias.espanol.yahoo.com/s/20052008/54/negocios-activistas-centroamericanos-protestan-junta-accionistas-goldcorp.html
http://buenosdiasplaneta.org/2008/05/21/activistas-centroamericanos-protestan-en-la-junta-de-accionistas-de-goldcorp/
http://proceso.hn/2008/05/21/Migrantes/Hondure.C.B/6053.html
http://www.prensa.com/HOY/mundo/1356173.html