[Indigsol] IPSMO’s Weekly Announcements, May 18-25: Meetings, E vents , Articles , Etc.

[Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa]

IPSMO’s Weekly Announcements, May 18-25: Meetings, Events, Articles, Etc.

1) The Haudenosaunee Men’s Fire Speaking in Ottawa
2) Canadian Mining Abuse Abroad and at Home
3) William Commanda regaining strength
4) Mohawks march on border in protest of arming guards
5) Natives look to Ottawa for Site 41 solution: 'Permanent' campsite set
up at proposed dump location near Elmvale 4
6) Calling All First Nation People In Canada re: Dump Site 41

1) The Haudenosaunee Men’s Fire Speaking in Ottawa

Saturday, May 30th
2:00pm in Room 202
Jack Purcell Community Centre
320 Jack Purcell Lane
Pay What You Can
 ipsmo at riseup.net
 http://ipsmo.wordpress.com

The Hosgenegehta [Haudenosaunee Men’s Fire] Speaking in Ottawa
Phillip Skye will be speaking for the men's fire

Ever since the level of activity at the reclamation site at Caledonia
diminished about a year ago, many non-native supporters have been unclear
about how to build ongoing links in solidarity with the Six Nations
struggle.

Unfortunately, while many non-native supporters were quite familiar with
the reclamation, very few people in our community – including those who
are more politically active – seem to know anything about the dozens of
developments that have been blocked in Brantford, or how to support those
people facing legal charges from their activity in defending Six Nations
land and the environment that we all share.

The event will be used as a way to raise awareness and funds for the work
by the Men’s Fire to halt development on the Haldimand tract and to
support the legal costs of the more than 100 people who have been
criminally charged for defending their land rights.
===========================================================================

2) Canadian Mining Abuse Abroad and at Home

The Ottawa Coalition Against Mining Uranium and the Ottawa Public Library
are co-sponsoring an event called:  CANADIAN MINING ABUSES ABROAD AND AT
HOME.

The event features:

ALAIN DENEAULT author of "Noir Canada - Pillage, Corruption and
Criminality in Africa" who will speak about the Canadian mining industry
in Africa.

CHARLES FICNER and DAVID GILL from the Coalition for BALANCED Mining Act
Reform who will speak on the topic:  "Is Ontario the Liberia of Mining?"

The event takes place TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009 at the Ottawa Public Library
auditorium (120 Metcalfe Street) - 6:30 PM TO 9:00 PM.

Admission is free, donations welcome.

Don't miss this event!
========================================================================

3) William Commanda regaining strength

William Commanda regaining strength; postponed the Order of Canada
Ceremony; attaching correspondence to GG and Queen; thanks for your
prayers
and support

This is the prayer William Commanda offered, in absentia, at the May 15,
2009 Order of Canada Investiture Ceremony:

Kwey Kwey:

My greetings to Your Excellencies, and Honoured Guests:

I send my deep regrets that I am not able to be with you all on this special
occasion. At ninety five, your body does not always allow you do all the
things you might wish.

When I look back at history over the years, I continue to be inspired by
those who have contributed to strengthening respect for Mother Earth,
promoting harmony amongst peoples and nations, and building a strong social
safety net for all. These were the fundamental values of my ancestors, and I
bring their dreams for a better world for all to this prayer at the May 2009
Order of Canada Investiture Ceremony. I am glad to be the face of the First
Peoples amongst so many who serve society with passion and commitment. I
offer my congratulations to them and wish them well in the effort to secure
a better future for all. Our ancestral prophecies foretold the day when the
all the peoples of the world would unite in Turtle Island to create such a
world, and on a day like today, despite the darkness that surrounds us, I
feel the strength of their conviction that a better world will emerge with
the efforts of individuals.

Megwetch to you all for this hope. Merci. Ginawaydaganuc- We Are All
Connected.

William Commanda
===========================================================================

4) Mohawks march on border in protest of arming guards

Mohawks march on border in protest of arming guards
Posted By Michael Peeling Updated 12 hours ago

   Hundreds of Mohawks marched across the Seaway International Bridge into
Canada from the U. S. on Saturday to protest a plan to arm border guards.

And things are taking a more ominous tone as the protesters claim they'll
evict the federal government if necessary over the controversial issue.

The “unity rally” organized by the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, started
with residents of the First Nation - which straddles the borders of Ontario,
Quebec and New York State - being bused from a tent set up beside the Canada
Customs and Immigration office on Cornwall Island (known in Mohawk as
Kawehnoke) into the U. S.

The tent is the staging ground for a month-long protest, which began on May
1, of the arming of Canadian Border Services Agency officers across the
country on June 1, but particularly at the Cornwall Island crossing.

The protesters returned on foot led by Grand Chief Tim Thompson. They walked
over the southern span of the bridge to the island behind a large banner
reading “No Guns!” and chanting, “End the occupation of Akwesasne”

Once the throng reached the yellow line indicating the border, they halted
briefly before walking unchecked by CBSA officials into Canada. Many of the
marchers made a circuit back around the customs and immigration building to
stop by the checkpoint booths and office windows, where they chant, with
signs reading: “The consequence of arming is eviction” against the windows
and knock on the glass.

The protesters eventually marched back to the tent. An attempt to make a
third circuit was met with little support.

MCA District Chief of Kanatakon (St. Regis, Que.) Larry King said the
council worked out a safe passage for the protesters with the CBSA before
the march.

“We're marching to tell the federal government how strongly we feel about
the message of no guns on our island,” King said. “There's no need and no
reason for the guards to have guns.”

King pointed out that Akwesasne Mohawk Police officers are armed and have an
outpost at the border crossing if CBSA officials require assistance.

There are also unarmed Mohawk security officers contracted by the federal
government to be stationed in the same building at all times.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mohawks of Akwesasne make up more than 70 per cent of the cross-border
traffic at the Cornwall Island port of entry and feel they are unfairly
singled out by border guards to be harassed and provoked into
confrontations.

Community elder John Boots told of how his granddaughter, her boyfriend and
their three children were pulled over at the border because the officers did
not believe the one, two and four-year-olds were their children. She was
still waiting to get their native status identification cards.

“The guards interrogated my great grandchildren to find out if my
granddaughter is their mother,” Boots said. “How insensitive is that? One of
them can't even talk.”

Boots also said the CBSA attempted to brand a 14-year-old girl a terrorist
and strip-searched her recently.

He added that the community is looking into getting help from the United
Nations to address tensions with the CBSA.

MCA spokesman Brendan White says the council has a long list of complaints
filed by tribe members over dealings with the CBSA, but none of them have
been resolved to the complainants' satisfaction by the Canadian Human Rights
Commission.
============================================================================

5) Natives look to Ottawa for Site 41 solution: 'Permanent' campsite set
up at proposed dump location near Elmvale 4

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3D1561829
Natives look to Ottawa for Site 41 solution  'Permanent' campsite set up at
proposed dump location near Elmvale Posted By Douglas Glynn, Midland Free
Press Updated 1 day ago

ELMVALE A group of concerned citizens from Christian Island who oppose The
North Simcoe Landfill, also known as Site 41, have established a permanent
campsite at the entrance to Site 41 and have put the call out to other
First Nations people across the country to join with them.

Vicki Monague, the group’s spokesperson, said they are holding a peaceful
protest and intend to stay until the plan to open the landfill is stopped.

“We will continue to hold ceremonies and to drum” she said.

Monague has appealed to First Nations people across Canada to come to the
campsite and support the protest because “the water is being threatened.”

“We want the federal government to intervene on behalf of First Nations
people to protect the Alliston aquifer,” she said.

About 25 members of the group set up camp in a farm field opposite the dump
on Friday to protest the landfill. But what was to have been a weekend of
ceremonies to honour the water, moon, the sun and the earth has quickly
become a permanent campsite.



Monague has also launched a petition calling on the chief and council of
Beausoleil First Nation to immediately take action against Site 41 by way of
a band council resolution and to exercise its power and influence to
overturn the landfill’s approval.

The campers were joined briefly Saturday by Mohawk environmentalist Danny
Beaton and elders from the United States and Ontario.

Elders from California, Utah and Cape Croker have aligned themselves with
the Mohawk and Chippewa of Ontario in calling on the provincial government
to stop Site 41.

At a Toronto news conference on Friday, elder Robertjohn Knapp of California
called for a halt to “the poisoning of one of the purest water sources on
Earth.”

(William Shotyk, a geochemistry professor at the University of Heidelberg in
Germany, who has tested the water from the area of the proposed dump site,
has described it as “kind of like the old-growth forest of natural waters...
the best water on Earth.)

Knapp said he had travelled to Toronto to ask Premier Dalton McGuinty to
“unplug his ears” and listen to people in the community who don't want the
landfill.

Beaton told Friday’s news conference that First Nations people do not wan’t
the Alliston Aquifer “drained, raped and poisoned. These sacred waters that
belong to our children.”

Beaton, who last November walked from Elmvale to Queen’s Park with Site 41
critic Steve Ogden, has also launched a Facebook protest against the
landfill.

“But,” he says, “I’ve yet to hear back from the environment ministry or the
premier.”

Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop has introduced a private members’ bill in
the Legislature that would, if passed, effectively kill the landfill.

Provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath has said she opposes the landfill and
“heartily supports the advocacy work being done by Beaton and like-minded
activists.”

Cindy Hood, district manager of the Environment Ministry’s Barrie office was
quoted by Canadian Press on Friday as saying the province has hired an
environmental officer to oversee the construction and operation of the site.
.


“All the permits that have been issued for this site have been done after
there has been a very comprehensive and thorough review of all the data”
Hood told CP.

“We've had scientists, hydrologists and engineers do a comprehensive review
... to ensure that the site can be developed and operated in a manner that
it will not be harmful to the environment”
============================================================================

6) Calling All First Nation People In Canada re: Dump Site 41

F.Y.I. YOUR VOICE AND SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW AND FOR THE COMING GENERATIONS.
NIA:WEN.

  PLEASE CIRCULATE TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS
  CALLING ALL FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE OF CANADA
**The Anishinabe Women, Keepers of the Water, need your support!**

*Sunday, May 10, 2009. *

*Concession 2, Tiny Township, Ontario, Canada *


           My name is Vicki Monague and I am apart of 5 Anishinabe Kweag
from Christian Island, Ontario who are making a stand for the Water where
the purest water in the world is being threatened here by Dump Site 41
(www.stopdumpsite41.ca, http://www.stopdumpsite41.ca,
http://www.stopdumpsite41.ca).

           This dump site has been approved by Ontario’s McGuinty Government
and is currently under production. It is slated to start receiving the waste
products of 4 municipalities and the County of Simcoe later this year.  This
debated, reviewed and approved landfill site is being built on top of the
World’s Purest Water source, the Alliston Aquifer, which runs from Georgian
Bay right to the Oak Ridges Moraine and affects all the Great Lakes of
Ontario. This Aquifer is part of a larger, deeper hydro geological system.
In the territory of the County of Simcoe is three First Nation Communities;
Rama, Georgina Island and Beausoleil.

           Some major components of the approved site plan has already been
proven to be ineffective when it was implemented in Cache Creek, British
Columbia in 1989. This site was built in arid climate zone and in a natural
depression with a sealed liner which was thought to be secure from leaks.
Researchers found traces of leachate almost everywhere they looked outside
the dump site as well as underground water. Contaminants in the underground
water system were found as close as 2 kilometers away from Ashcroft Indian
Reserve, near Cache Creek.

           With the Alliston Aquifer running directly below in to every
major body of water in Central Ontario, there is very real danger of the
World’s Purest Water Source becoming contaminated. As Anishinabe Women, it
is our duty to stand up for the water to ensure it’s preservation for
generations to come. As First Nations people, it is our duty to protect the
land. Site 41 not only raping Mother Earth, it will also give her the
disease called leachate for which the affects could be felt for many, many
generations to come.

           A group of 30 native and Metis people have been holding vigil at
Site 41 in Tiny Township for the past three days in what was to be a weekend
Peaceful Protest. However, it seems very clear to us that our work is not
done and we are going to continue to hold vigil over Site 41 until the
Federal Government stands up for the Rights of First Nations People and
overturns the Province of Ontario’s decision of approval for Site 41.

           We have been receiving the support of well over 40 non-native
local community members all weekend long who have taken part in our Water
Ceremonies and our Songs from the Drum. To my knowledge, this is the first
time in Canada that the Non-Native People and First Nations have taken a
stand in this region, side-by-side, against the levels of Government. We
will continue to stand unified with our White Brothers and Sisters against
Site 41.

Our voices have also been heard by Native Elders in Utah and California and
we are quickly gaining support from other First Nation communities. Our
Sacred Fire has been lit and will continue to burn until our demands are
met. We are now inviting all First Nations People in Canada to come and take
part in our Peaceful Protest of Site 41. Your First Nations Women need your
support. We are going to protect our Heritage Land!

*WE WILL NOT LEAVE UNTIL SITE 41 IS STOPPED PERMANENTLY!*

*Sincerely,

*VICKI MONAGUE
Ojibwe of the Wolf Clan
PO Box 148, Christian Island, ON L0K 1C0
(705) 247-2636
*


*Please sign the petitions*
*www.stopdumpsite41.ca
http:www.stopdumpsite41.ca,

 http://www.dannybeaton.ca