[Bloquez l'empire!] [Fwd: Support Tyendinaga- revoke quarry license petition]

[Meg]

> ** please forward widely **
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> PETITION: Urge the Province of Ontario to Stop
> Licensing the Plunder of
> First Nations Land
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> SIGN ON TODAY!!
> Read the petition text below:
> SIGN ON TODAY!!
>
------------------------------------------------------------
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO:
>
> 1. Add your name to the petition at:
>
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoplicensingplunder/index.html
>
> 2. Put a link to the petition on your organization's
> website.
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We, the undersigned, are writing to urge the
> Province of Ontario to end
> its complicity in the theft and plunder of First
> Nations land.
> Specifically, we ask that the Province stop
> providing licenses for
> resource extraction from lands currently in the
> Federal land claims
> negotiation process.
>
> Recent proposed changes to the Federal Specific
> Claims land claim process
> have been proposed and may expedite negotiations on
> some claims. The large
> majority however, will not qualify for the "fast
> track." While claims
> languish for years and even decades at Federal
> negotiating tables, Provincial licenses continue to
> be issued for the very
> land and resources that are being talked about.
>
> In 1995, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte near
> Belleville, Ontario filed a
> specific claim for land known as the Culbertson Land
> Tract. In 2003, the
> Federal Government acknowledged that the Culbertson
> Tract had never been
> surrendered and was in fact Mohawk Land. It was not
> until late 2006 that
> negotiations for the return of these lands to Mohawk
> use and control began
> in earnest. Despite acknowledgment by the Federal
> Government that the
> Mohawks are the rightful owners of the Culbertson
> Tract lands, the Ontario
> Ministry of the Natural Resources continues to issue
> a provincial license
> to an Ontario company called Thurlow Aggregates. The
> license allows
> Thurlow to operate a quarry and the removal of
> 100,000 tons of gravel
> annually - or roughly 300 truckloads a month.
>
> Although the Mohawks have repeatedly attempted to
> have the quarry license
> revoked while negotiations are underway, the
> Province continues to
> maintain that it has no jurisdiction to consider the
> fact that the
> Aggregate is on land currently under Specific Claim
> negotiations.
>
> Conveniently, the Federal government maintains that
> it cannot deal with
> ongoing resource extraction because licensing is a
> provincial issue.
>
> The positioning of the Feds and Province on the
> Culbertson Tract Aggregate
> is emblematic of a deceitful and shameful game of
> "hot potato" played over
> First Nations land and resources year after year all
> over Ontario and
> indeed the country.
>
> If a homeowner suffered a home break-in and robbery,
> we would not expect
> him to allow the rest of his belongings to be
> removed, while, for the next
> 10 years or so, the value of the items already
> stolen were determined. Why
> then are such scenarios permitted when it comes to
> the Land Claims
> process?
>
> Not only does it indicate bad faith in land claims
> negotiations, it is a
> needless instigator of conflict and confrontation.
> When negotiations allow
> such basic unfairness to continue, it can come as no
> surprise when First
> Nations people create physical impediments to halt
> resource extraction, as
> the Tyendinaga Mohawks have done through their
> ongoing occupation of the
> Culbertson Tract Aggregate.
>
> We implore the Provincial Government to revoke the
> quarry license on the
> Culbertson Land Tract and thereby commit to
> negotiating land claims issues
> in good faith and to honest governance for all
> Ontarians.
>
> We also strongly encourage the Federal and
> Provincial Governments to
> engage in meaningful dialogue to end the
> exploitation of First Nation
> lands and resources. We are aggrieved to say that
> the status quo appears
> to be a twenty-first century perpetuation of a
> dismal history of policy
> that has done great injury to First Nations people
> and communities.
>
> Signed:
>
> Sara Abraham, University of Toronto
>
> Naomi Adelson, Associate Professor, York University
>
> Maude Barlow
>
> Harald Bauder, Associate Professor in Geography,
> University of Guelph
>
> Angad Bhalla
>
> Professor Meyer Brownstone, Emeritus University of
> Toronto, Emeritus,
> Oxfam Canada
>
> Professor Kari Dehli, OISE
>
> Wendy DesMoulin-DeMerchant, Canadian Metis Council,
> Division for Nova Scotia
>
> Anthony Hall, University of Lethbridge
>
> Buzz Hargrove, President, Canadian Auto Workers
> Union
>
> Dr. Teresa Holmes, York University
>
> Kahentinetha Horn, MNN, Mohawk Nation
>
> Hanna Kawas, Chairperson, Canada Palestine
> Association, Vancouver
>
> Naomi Klein
>
> Alex Latta, Department of Global Studies, Wilfrid
> Laurier University
>
> Wayne Lessard, B.A., LLB, Corporation of the City of
> Windsor
>
> Avi Lewis
>
> Dr. Andrea Medovarski, York University
>
> Paul Moist, National President, CUPE Ottawa
>
> Professor Liisa L. North, York University
>
> Dr. Peter Nyers
>
> John Opia Paraguanex Montanez, United Confederation
> of Taino People
>
> Claudette Paul, Office Manager, Roach, Schwartz &
> Associates
>
> Dr. Alja Pirosok, York University
>
> Dr. Sherene Razack, OISE
>
> Judy Rebick, Chair, Gindin Centre for Social
> Justice, Ryerson University
>
> Joanna Santa Barbara, Centre for Peace Studies,
> McMaster University
>
> Professor Donna Schatz, York University
>
> Dr. Aparna Sundar, Ryerson University
>
> Dr. John Simoulidis, York University
>
> George Sorger, Professor Emeritus, Department of
> Biology, McMaster University
>
> Alissa Trotz, University of Toronto
>
> Dr. Mark Thomas, Department of Sociology, York
> University
>
> Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Assistant Professor in
> Native Studies,
> University of Toronto
>
> Professor Walter Whiteley, York University
>
> Dr. Cynthia Wright
>

>
>
>
>
>



      Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk
email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail at
http://mrd.mail.yahoo.com/try_beta?.intl=ca




-- 
"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To
never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity
of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue
beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or
complicate what is simple. To understand. To never look away. And
never, never to forget."
-Arundhati Roy