[Indigsol] IPSMO Newsletter, Oct. 4 to 11

[Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa]

IPSMO Newsletter, Oct. 4 – 11

Meetings, Events, Announcements, Articles

1) Meetings
1a) Indigenous Sovereignty Committee meeting, Oct. 13, 5pm
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2) Events

2a) Organizing for Justice, Opening Panel: Grassroots Responses to the
Environmental and Economic Crises, Thursday, Oct. 15 at 6:30pm

2b) The War In The Country - How The Fight To Save Rural Life Will Shape
Our Future, Saturday, October 17 at 11 a.m.

2c) Book launch: "Dans les filets du Diable; coureurs de bois et l'univers
religieux amérindien," Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 5pm

2d) Book launch: "Drumming from within," Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5pm

2e) Conference: "Reconciliation and Co-existence: Orality and
Literacy," Thursday and Friday, Oct 29-30, 9am

2f) Queer Struggles and Economic Crisis, Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12:30pm
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3) Articles

3a) School water issue heating up
3b) Brant still committed to getting clean water for his kids
3c) THE WRONGS OF THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM!
3d) Another Site 41? Landfill in southern Ontario starts legal battle
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4) Announcements

4a) Jer’s Vision: Sign up for Jer’s Vision new Newsletter
4b) *NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST 2010 OLYMPIC SPONSORS:
DIRTY MONEY FOR DIRTY OIL*
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5) Freedom and Justice for John Moore
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1) Indigenous Sovereignty Committee meeting, Oct. 13, 5pm

ISC meeting
Oct. 13, Thursday, 5pm
P.S.A.C. building (233 Gilmour)
Everyone Welcome!
Wheelchair Accessible
http://www.defendersoftheland.org/

The Indigenous Sovereignty Committee will be organizing the
Ottawa/Outaouais Indigenous Sovereignty week.  Indigenous Sovereignty week
is being organized in response to the call made by the new national
indigenous organization, Defenders of the Land.
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2) Events

2a) Organizing for Justice, Opening Panel: Grassroots Responses to the
Environmental and Economic Crises, Thursday, Oct. 15 at 6:30pm

part of the Organizing For Justice conference, Oct15-18:
http://www.organizingforjustice.ca -
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62922241219

Panel theme:
Grassroots Responses to the Economic and Environmental Crises

Featuring:

* Beenash Jafri (York University, Women’s Studies) – research interests
include: critical race/antiracism studies, postcolonial theory, critical
feminism/gender studies, indigenous studies, identity politics,
environmental justice, social movements and coalition building. See
co-authored article ‘Green is not the only colour‘
http://briarpatchmagazine.com/514/

* Ben Powless (Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, Indigenous Environmental
Network) – a Mohawk young person currently involved in organizing the
Power Shift Canada 09 conference (Ottawa, Oct 23-26), addressing climate
change and a just transition to a ‘green’ society / economy -
http://powershiftcanada.org/

* A representative from the Toronto Workers’ Assembly (Toronto, Oct 2-4),
organizing working-class communities to build an independent politics that
puts real alternatives to capitalism on the agenda -
http://workersolidarity.blogspot.com/2009/05/fall-conference-2009_16.html
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2b) The War In The Country - How The Fight To Save Rural Life Will Shape
Our Future

Octopus Books proudly presents: **The War In The Country - How The Fight
To Save Rural Life Will Shape Our Future**

*Please join us to celebrate the new book by *Thomas F. Pawlick**,* an
award-winning writer and the author of the praised *The End of Food *on
Saturday, October 17 at 11 a.m. at the Main Farmers' Market, 223 Main
Street.

*The War In The Country *is a provocative look at rural communities and a
passionate call to arms to save them. Pawlick, himself a farmer, uses the
microcosm of his own rural community in eastern Ontario to portray the
groups involved around the world who are waging a war to save their rural
way of life. The outcome of these clashes will decide not only the future
of rural life globally but also the quality and  sustainability of our
food, our water, our soil, and our air—of the
environment on which we depend for survival. *The War in the
Country*argues, passionately and persuasively, that every one of us
must join the fight to secure our food future.

*Thomas F. Pawlick* has more than thirty-five years of experience as a
journalist and editor, specializing in science, environmental, and
agricultural reporting. He is a three-time winner of the Canadian Science
Writers’ Association Award and received a National Magazine Award for his
agricultural reporting.

Come early to enjoy the local products of the Farmers' Market and
participate our raffle: win a copy of the new book or a lunch with the
author at the Green Door Restaurant!

For more information contact Laura at Octopus Books: events at octopusbooks.ca.

Octopus Books is an independent progressive bookstore committed to provide
books on social justice issues and support community initiatives since
1969.  www.octopusbooks.ca
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2c) Book launch: "Dans les filets du Diable; coureurs de bois et l'univers
religieux amérindien," Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 5pm

October 13 - Book launch by Jean-François Beaudet "Dans les filets du
Diable; coureurs de bois et l'univers religieux amérindien"; (Médiaspaul
2009)

As part of Celebration of First Peoples in Canada at Saint Paul University
in October
Tuesday, October 13th, from 5 pm to 7 pm
Librairie Saint-Paul & Canterbury House Bookstore (Laframboise Hall)
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2d) Book launch: "Drumming from within," Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5pm

October 28 - Book launch by the Most Reverend Sylvain Lavoie, OMI
"Drumming from within"
(Novalis 2009)
As part of Celebration of First Peoples in Canada at Saint Paul University
in October
Wednesday, October 28th, from 5 pm to 7 pm
At Saint Paul University Amphitheatre (Guigues Hall)
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2e) Conference: "Reconciliation and Co-existence: Orality and Literacy,"
Thursday and Friday, Oct 29-30, 9am

October 29-30 --Conference "Reconciliation and Co-existence: Orality and
Literacy"

As part of Celebration of First Peoples in Canada at Saint Paul University
in October  Thursday and Friday, October 29 and 30th, from 9 am to 5 pm

At Saint Paul University Atrium and Amphitheatre (Guigues Hall)
Presentations:
Dr. Cora Weber-Pillwax, University of Alberta
Circle of All Nations
Dr. George Sioui, University of Ottawa
Dr. Claudette Commanda-Coté, University of Ottawa
Peoples of the Longhouse: Brad Henry, Christina Moore
Dr. Jean-Guy Goulet, Saint Paul University
Cecil Chabot, doctoral student, Ottawa U; scholar Aberdeen
Right Reverend Eric Bays
Stephen Augustine, curator, Museum of Civilisation
Dr. Annik Charon de la Casinière, Laval University
Dr. Frédérick Laugrand, Laval University
Père Robert Lechat, omi
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2f)Queer Struggles and Economic Crisis, Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12:30pm

Queer Struggles and Economic Crisis

Part of Organizing for Justice
Saturday, Oct. 17, 12:30pm
440 Albert (old Ottawa Technical High School)
Everyone Welcome!
Wheelchair Accessible
http://organizingforjustice.ca/
org4justice at gmail.com
FB image by Favianna Rodriguez

Panelists:

Nadijah Robinson from Agitate! Ottawa
Jeremy Dias from Jer’s Vision
Percy Lezard from 2 Spirited People of the 1st Nations
Gary Kinsman, Author and Activist

This panel will explore the history of queer organizing, the
criminalization of HIV/AIDS, the differences and similarities between
queer people of colour, two-spirit and white queer organizing, class and
sexuality, and the effects of the economic crises on queer organizing.

More about our panelists:

Jer's Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative is Canada's national
organization to support and encourage the work of youth to address
discrimination in their schools and communities. Through art, community,
education, and youth initiatives and partnerships with a variety of
established national and community organizations, we provide youth with
the tools and the resources to promote diversity and end discrimination of
all kinds.

Agitate is a queer, Ottawa-based organization for indigenous women, mixed
race women and women of colour. Agitate’s aim is to provide queer
visibility within racialized and ethnic communities; outreach; social
programming; education; transnational and anti-colonial perspectives; and
anti-racist activism. The organization was borne out of recognition of the
intersecting nature of the oppressions and experiences we face as women,
as queer persons and as indigenous persons and persons of colour. In
addition to fighting oppression, Agitate members aim to provide a
gathering space in which we can share our diverse realities in the spirit
of celebration.

2 Spirited People of the 1st Nations is an AIDS Service Organization
(ASO), that supports Aboriginal, Metis & Inuit Community members living
off reserve either affected or effected by HIV/AIDS. This agencies origins
was a call in the late 1980's early 1990's rise of infection amongst the 2
spirit men population and their subsequent experiences of racism and
discrimination of their cultural background at the early ASO's in the GTA.
We are a small agency of 3 full time staff and one part-time staff, and we
are the only agency of its kind in Canada yet along North America. The
HIV/AIDS Educator Percy Lezard will be speaking on the agencies behalf.

Gary Kinsman is a longtime queer liberation and anti-capitalist activist.
He is the author of the Regulation of Desire: Homo and Hetero Sexualities,
co-editor of Whose National Security? and Sociology for Changing the
Wor4ld and co-author of the forthcoming The Canadian War on Queers:
National Security as Sexual Regulation.
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3) Articles

3a) School water issue heating up

School water issue heating up
Chief says solution is on the way, courtesy of INAC
Posted By W. Brice McVicar, The Intelligencer

TYENDINAGA TERRITORY- The issue of clean water for students at a public
school here may reach a boiling point if the matter is not soon addressed,
warn members of the community.

Students at Quinte Mohawk School have not been able to drink water from
the school's plumbing system since February 2008 due to elevated levels of
contaminants in the water.

However, Chief Don R. Maracle said this could all change in the coming
months following a letter received from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
late last week.

The letter, dated Oct.1, indicates INAC is "committed to overseeing
finalizing the design for the secondary/treatment (chlorination system)
recommended by Health Canada" and will support the additional costs to
install the unit.

Quinte Mohawk School is a federal school and, as such, falls into the
jurisdiction of INAC.

A press release issued by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte states their
role is to assist with maintenance of the building while INAC is
"responsible to ensure the water system conforms to the legislation".

The letter from INAC, Chief Maracle said, should indicate to parents that
their children will soon have clean water at their school.

"The water has not been operational since February 2008 and the drinking
fountains have had plastic covers over them since then," Maracle said.

"We installed a new water filtration system in there between April and
June of this year and there's some post-testing that has to be but during
the summer months they detected slight elevations in the raw water system.

"Because of the test results Health Canada recommended an additional
chlorination system be added and the engineers have completed that design
and Indian Affairs has agreed to pay for it."

Maracle said the new system will be "ordered right away" and he hopes it
will be operational by November.

The announcement comes on the heels of a public meeting held last Thursday
night by Mohawk protester Shawn Brant. The meeting, Brant said, was
organized to inform parents and community members about the water issues
and allow them to discuss their frustrations.

Brant said the only time the band council seems to become concerned about
the water quality at the school is when tensions rise regarding the new
$1.9 million police building which was supposed to arrive on York Road one
year ago.

The modular building, however, has remained in limbo as protesters have
taken over the proposed site and refuse to leave.

"Last year we were very specific. We said we want council to respect the
values and priorities of people in this community and those values include
the protection of our children in the school and the drinking water. We
blocked the police station and said we wouldn't discuss the police
building at all until the water at the school was fixed," Brant said.

Earlier this year, he added, media reports that the water issue had been
solved relieved tension but when it was learned the water at the school
remained contaminated the situation became, once again, aggravated.

The children at Quinte Mohawk School, Brant said, deserve clean water.

"I don't know of any other school that would tolerate such an indignity
for their community or their children," he said. "I do have children there
and it's something that's unimaginable to me."

The chief's hope to have the new chlorination system operational by next
month means little to Mario Baptiste, a protester who said the new police
building won't be arriving on the Tyendinaga Territory any time soon.

"The police station's not even up for debate until, at the very least,
there's clean drinking water for our kids. We're not going to be
blackmailed," he said.

"This isn't just a month or two issue.... They've knowingly, willingly
endangered the lives of every children in that school. How do you deal
with people like that?"

Baptiste said the protesters who have remained at the site of the proposed
new police station since October 2008 will stay there as long as they have
to. One step in getting them to leave, he said, would be to provide safe
water for the school children.

bmcvicar at intelligencer.ca
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3b) Brant still committed to getting clean water for his kids

Brant still committed to getting clean water for his kids

Posted By W. Brice McVicar, The Intelligencer

Free from jail for just more than a month, Shawn Brant recognizes some of
his tactics to bring attention to his community's plight have failed.

However, that doesn't stop the noted Mohawk activist from rhetorically
asking what else can be done to make people care about the "indignity" his
children live with each day.

Brant was released from jail Aug. 29, just more than a month after he was
handed a five month sentence for his role in a blockade of York Road in
October 2008 and this past summer's blockade of the Skyway Bridge.

Brant was sentenced July 22 but released early due to good behaviour.

He has often lambasted the government for doing nothing about drinking
water issues on the reserve and some of the time spent behind bars is
connected to protests he says he's staged in an attempt to, at the very
least, get clean water for the reserve's public school.

Over the years Brant has been in and out of the court system due to his
active role as a protester. That time away from his wife and children is
tough, he said, but it also provides an odd break from life on Tyendinaga
Territory.

"I realize that going to jail hasn't fixed the water at the school but
when I'm sitting in jail I don't have to live in this community every day
walking around free with the indignity that our children face everyday,"
he said.

"I feel like a failure and a fall down. I question my ability as even a
parent and a community member to provide that safe place for our kids."

When Justice Stephen Hunter delivered his sentence earlier this year he
told Brant he is aware of issues on the reserve and understands how
frustrated the residents there feel.

"You are an articulate representative of what those frustrations are, but
you also understand that I am required to ensure the laws of this country
are respected," Hunter said at the time of sentencing.

Brant said he has high respect for Hunter as both a man and a judge,
adding even he knows there are priorities and values that must be
respected.

 "Sometimes our worlds clash and I think he does what he has to do and I
do what I have to do, but it's not a matter of disrespect on either one
of our parts. I can appreciate where he comes from," Brant said.

On probation, Brant said he has the normal conditions imposed upon him
such as keeping the peace and not participating in unlawful protests but
added that does not mean he cannot speak out on issues such as the water
quality at his children's school, Quinte Mohawk School.

"It's something that can be so easily fixed and resolved," he said. "I
find it difficult to believe we live in a society that is so detached from
any entity or compassion toward Indian kids and our community that would
continue to allow these things to be perpetuated."

bmcvicar at intelligencer.ca
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3c) THE WRONGS OF THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM!
- a statement by No One Is Illegal - Toronto -

Some believe that the Canadian immigration system is fair and generous. It
isn't. And Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney are swiftly making it even
worse.

They are underhandedly taking apart the so-called 'objective' points-based
system. They are moving quickly to get rid of its 'humanitarian' part, the
refugee process. In its place, they are setting up temporary work programs
that are designed to push most migrants in to vulnerable, precarious and
temporary jobs without access to services or the ability to unionize.

In 2008, for the first time, more people arrived on exploitative temporary
work programs than people with some access to permanent residency!

Major changes have been sneaked through a budget bill and other seemingly
disconnected regulation announcements. Bill C-50 and Bill C-45 gave powers
to immigration minister and officers to arbitrarily decide who can come in
to Canada and who cannot. The family reunification program has been
modified to actually deter reunification. Visas have been imposed on Czech
Romas and Mexicans. Deportations have increased with moratoriums on return
lifted for many countries. Only people in 38 professions can now immigrate
to Canada - everyone else is banned. A new clause within the Temporary
Foreign Worker manual means that migrants are permanently temporary, they
can stay indefinitely in Canada without having to leave to renew their
work permit but are unable to apply for permanent residency.

Kenney is bent on breaking the already dysfunctional refugee system.
Refugee acceptance rates have dropped each year, halved in the last two
decades. Now the Harper government is 'revising' this system. For the
first time, Canada could fast-track rejections of refugee claimants from
'safe' countries. These 'safe' countries are mostly those which Canada has
trade relations with. The proposed changes follow a months-long, carefully
orchestrated xenophobic campaign, led by Kenney.

Even those granted citizenship are seemingly never fully recognized as
Canadian. They are excluded and ignored in and by Canada. Maher Arar,
Abousoufian Abderazik and Suaad Haji Mahmood are three of the many
citizens in whose torture and abuse Canada is complicit.

Canada champions itself as a beacon of progressive immigration and
settlement policy as it moves towards a temporary immigration system. But,
migrants of color earn 40% less than their white counterparts. In Toronto,
the number of immigrants who are poor has grown by 125%, and almost 60% of
poor families are from racialized groups. Immigrant neighborhoods are
underserved and marginalized. Immigrant families have little access to
recognition of credentials or good jobs, or to services such as affordable
childcare.

Many immigrants sacrifice themselves and their aspirations for the
betterment of their children. But often second and third-generation
immigrants remain in exploitative jobs, pushed out of schools and
universities, unable to fully access opportunities promised.

Even more than immigrants, temporary migrants like farm workers, live-in
caregivers, construction workers, others, face exploitative and precarious
work and living conditions. They pay taxes and build communities but are
unable to access the most basic services. Migrant workers are not allowed
to bring their families.

During the recession, attacks against migrants have greatly increased. In
the last year, immigration enforcement has carried out large workplace
raids and forcibly deported people. The enforcement arm of immigration
targets non-status people that it considers most vulnerable - women at
shelters and people at community gardens. These tactics push already
vulnerable undocumented people into situations where they face greater
risk and exploitation.

The changes to the Canadian immigration system are a violent continuation
of exclusion of migrants. The present Canadian immigration system, set up
by settlers on colonized land engages with migrants, mostly of color, only
to exploit their labor. As we fight against the recent and coming
regressive changes by Harper and his cronies, we must challenge the entire
exclusionary basis of the immigration systems themselves.

Join the fightback!
Visit nooneisillegal.org.
Sign up at https://lists.riseup.net/www/subrequest/nooneisillegal for more.

Find out more yourself!

** About the refugee system: www.ccrweb.ca;
http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00220 and
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=472

** About Canadian mining companies and displacement:
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/30233

** About poverty and racialization: http://cop.openconcept.ca/

** About workplace raids:
http://www.rabble.ca/news/2009/04/protests-respond-ontario-immigration-raids

** About Jason Kenney's lies:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet207.html

** About temporary work programs: (2008)
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=ecb6c196-7f79-4c4b-8d82-3742549ee5ba;
(2009)
http://ablawg.ca/2009/06/04/canada%E2%80%99s-temporary-immigration-system/
and http://www.justicia4migrantworkers.org/

** About changes to temporary work programs:
http://www.straight.com/article-237638/bill-targets-foreign-workers and
http://www.ocasi.org/index.php?qid=967

** About changes to the refugee act:
http://www.canada.com/news/Ottawa+readies+fast+tracking+refugee+claims+from+safe+nations/1899301/story.html
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3d) Another Site 41?
Landfill in southern Ontario starts legal battle
by Geordie Gwalgen Dent

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
TORONTO—After years of blockades and campaigning, another battle to
protect wetlands and water in southern Ontario is going to court.
Cayuga is a small community on Six Nations territory south of Hamilton.
For five years, protesters, First Nations and Cayuga residents have been
trying to stop the development of a landfill by SF Partnership Chartered
Accountants and Haldimand Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc. On October 2,
preliminary hearings to stop the site's development occurred.
“There have been blockades to stop trucks coming in twice,” most recently
in late 2008, says Jody Orr, co-chair of Haldimand Against Landfill
Transfer (HALT). “What happened in 2007 was an attempt to bring garbage in
and some members of the Haudenosaunee and our group stopped it. Since
then, there has been little activity on the site. We keep a watch on it.”
Blockades and legal battles around dump sites and development have been
numerous this summer in Southern Ontario. Site 41 in Simcoe County was
slated to have a dump site built on top of it for garbage from the
surrounding area. Unfortunately for residents in the area, it would also
be on an aquifer containing the “purest water in the world.” Protesters
and members of the Council Of Canadians filed an injunction claiming the
site was operating illegally in July of 2009 and on September 22 Simcoe
County councilors voted to stop construction and development of the site.
Just a few weeks earlier, development at the Hanlon Creek Business Park
(HCBP) in Guelph was halted for 30 days by a court injunction. The site
had been occupied beginning in July by Guelph and Six Nations protesters.
Recently, the City of Guelph voted to halt construction until July 2010.
Both situations mirror developments at the Edwards landfill site in Cayuga.
The Edwards site is within the Haldimand Tract, land granted to Six
Nations in 1784. The site was opened in 1959 as an industrial and
commercial landfill and has maintained sporadic activity as a dump site
since.
Serious contamination of the site occurred between the late 1960s and late
1980s when the St. Lawrence Resin Products Plant was dumping industrial
waste there. Thousands of tons of toxic chemicals have been found in the
site including toluene, ethylstyrene, xylene, ehtylbenzene, ethyltoluene,
methylstyrene, cymene and divinyl benzene.
When the site was opened again as a landfill in 2004, HALT was formed by
Cayuga residents hoping to stop continued contamination from the use of
the site. “We had tried different steps and had gone through a legal
process, and despite that the trucks were still coming in,” says Ann
Vallentin, another co-chair of HALT.
In 2007 blockades against trucks associated with Haldimand Norfolk
Sanitary Landfill Inc, the company owning the site, began.
“We didn't see another route to go at that point, says Vallentin. “We were
not exited but it was a last-resort effort at that point. The blockade was
done by Six Nations members and activists at the road at the time.”
Eventually an injunction was put against anyone trying to stop the trucks.
The blockades were successful, at least temporarily. The company, having
spent a considerable amount of money on site preparation, was unable to
deliver garbage. Shortly before, it had gone into bankruptcy and was put
into receivership. Receiver Brahm Rosen, of SF Partnership Chartered
Accountants in Toronto, has been trying to “operate the landfill and sell
it as is our mandate...as receiver.”
“But we can't do it," said Rosen, speaking in the Hamilton Spectator.
Rosen was unable to contact this author by deadline.
Similar to Site 41 and HCBP, a collaboration between First Nations and
white activists has been key to the success of stopping the Edwards site
from further use.
According to Orr, “In HALT, there are people that do not agree with what
is happening with a number of issues (such as land claims). Some will be
supportive, but not others. On this issue, everyone sees a reason to come
together. I don't want to leave my grandkids this kind of legacy. I think
that the involvement of the Haudenosaunee was critical in stopping
garbage. If it had not been for their decision, I'm not sure what the
outcome would have been.”
In 2007, Six Nations spokesperson Ruby Montour said the Haudenosaunee
Development Institute had not been informed about revival of the dumpsite
and told the Hamilton Spectator: "This is Haudenosaunee land and it's not
for garbage. Why should the people who live around there have to fear
that?"
The Hoskanigetah of the Grand River, a group within the Haudenosaunee,
have made repeated announcements that they will not allow the
“reactivation of the Edwards Landfill” promising to “undertake the
supervision of our own Environmental Review of contamination.”
Wilf Ruland, a professional geoscientist, says serious contamination at
the site exists. Conducting a “Review of 2006 Monitoring Report for
Edwards Landfill,” Ruland found that “the existing hazardous wastes on the
Edwards Landfill property pose an ongoing threat to both groundwater and
surface water quality for as long as they remain on the property.“
The Hoskanigetah have outlined concerns regarding premature births,
miscarriages and deformities, pointing out that “the integrity of the same
liner used at Edwards Landfill has been breached at other sites including
[in] the US, where it has been used.”
In an email, Jennifer Hall, Regional Communications Advisor for the
Ministry of the Environment, stated that “the newly constructed landfill
cell meets the stringent requirements of Ontario’s landfill design
standards.”
HALT disagrees and is now taking the receiver to court, seeking an
injunction to stop the development of the site.
“When the receiver got an injunction against the protesters, the CoA
[certificate of approval] from the Ministry of Environment had a number of
provisions that had been violated,” says Orr. HALT then filed a
counter-injunction which stopped work on the site and mandated that
protesters would be notified of subsequent work.
“In 2008, a number of conditions still had not been met. The Ministry of
Environment was allowing things to go ahead without proper approval.
There’s a lack of detail on the decontaminating plan for a very toxic
site.”
Like the Hoskanigetah, Orr and HALT have concerns about the integrity of
the liner and charge that there is no monitoring of the quality of water
and no annual report on environmental plans, as mandated by the
certificate of approval. “We’re seeking in court, for prosecution, that
this site is operating illegally,” says Orr.
According to Hall, “There were some minor items of non-compliance
regarding preparation of the site to receive waste that have since been
resolved. The ministry is satisfied that the receiver is in compliance
with their CoA and the court order.
“The CoA requires the site owner to monitor ground and surface water on
the site for impacts caused by the landfill site. The ministry is
confident that the terms and conditions of the CoA will protect
groundwater and surface water.“
Though the legal process to stop the site is in its early stages, neither
Orr nor Vallentin are optimistic that the site will be permanently closed
any time soon.
“Will [the legal work] be effective? I don't know,” says Vallentin. “We
were told by people when we started that it was going to happen so there
was no reason to try to stop it. But we felt that if it was bad then we
have a duty to try to do what we can do. Typically in situations like this
companies will keep trying until they wear out people on the ground. Site
41 took 25 years, I hope it wont be the same thing here.”
Geordie Gwalgen Dent is a contributing member of the Toronto Media Co-op.
A version of this article was originally published by the Toronto Media
Co-op.
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4) Announcements

4a) Jer’s Vision and sign up for Jer’s Vision Newsletter

Welcome to the new Newsletter from Jers Vision: Canadas Youth Diversity
Initiative (http://www.jersvision.org/)/The International Day of
Pink (http://www.dayofpink.org/)(May 2009 Edition). We are so proud to
team up with Network for Good (http://www.networkforgood.org/)to bring you
information on Jers Vision, upcoming events and
activities in your community.

Check out our monthly draw for amazing prizes;our way of saying thank you
for reading; look for details below.

Swirl & Twirl 6

Jers Vision is proud to be achosen charity for Ottawa’s premier wine &
beer tasting, the Swirl & Twirl 6. Come join us on May 28, 2009 at
Jean Pigott Hall (Ottawa City Hall) at 7pm for a fabulous event.
Tickets are 25$ and are available through Jers Vision, email us at:
info at jersvision.org (mailto:info at jersvision.org?subject=SwirlTwirl) or
call us at: 613-562-5800 ext 6486. More info (Here
(http://www.swirlandtwirl.ca/)).
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4b) *NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST 2010 OLYMPIC SPONSORS:
DIRTY MONEY FOR DIRTY OIL*
*
*In the lead up to the 2010 Winter Games, host communities have been
organizing to expose the impact of the Games on indigenous communities,
low-income and homeless populations, public services, and the environment.
While we continue to expose the impact of the Games themselves,
anti-Olympic organizers in Vancouver want to make sure that the spotlight
is directed at the social and environmental crimes of the corporate
sponsors as well.

Some of the sponsors of the 2010 Games are among the most notorious
corporate criminals, having devastated communities and environments around
the world. These include General Electric, the world’s largest
corporation, war profiteer, beneficiary of the 2008 financial bailout in
the US and financier of the “ruin of the river” private power projects in
BC; and Coca Cola, the corporation responsible for the murder of trade
unionists in Latin America, depletion of ground water and destruction of
surface water needed by vulnerable communities in India, major profiteer
from the commodification of water, and beneficiary of monopoly contracts
at schools and universities
across the country.

As social and environmental justice organizers, we have been given a
unique opportunity to expose the crimes of these corporations and counter
the green marketing they are attempting to promote during the Games. The
primary concern of the Olympic organizing committee is to protect the
brand names of the Olympics and its sponsors. We can target their most
important and vulnerable reason to be involved with the Games - the
marketing opportunity.

Olympic national partner The Royal Bank Canada (RBC) has been identified
by the Rainforest Action Network as the biggest financiers of the Tar
Sands, and has also sponsored Oil Sands Discovery center in Fort McMurray
that serves as a propaganda tool for the industry. The Tar Sands are
clearly the most environmentally destructive project on the planet,
destroying indigenous lands, emitting more Greenhouse Gases than hundreds
of countries, poisoning the watershed for the entire Athabasca region.
Even the Government of Alberta has now confirmed elevated levels of rare
cancers in the downstream Indigenous community of Fort Chipewyan.
*
TAKING ACTION AT A ROYAL BANK NEAR YOU!*

Every Friday at 12 noon
*Starting October 16th*

Beginning in the month of October, we are asking activists to be present
at local RBC branches across the country every Friday noon hour with
banners and flyers. We hope to have hundreds of actions across the country
especially to compliment actions against the launch of the Royal Bank
sponsored Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria on Friday October 30th.

FIND A BRANCH NEAR YOU!

Simply google search “the Royal Bank” and the name of your city/town if
you are not already aware of a bank near your home or workplace. Be sure
to inform us about which branch you will be targeting and we can then ask
others to join you or be present at another branch to cover as many
locations as we can. Send an email to: 2010corporatecampaign at gmail.com A
map of all locations will be updated online.

DOWNLOAD METERIALS

Leaflets will be available to download by October 9th 2009.

*2010 CORPORATE CAMPAIGN*

This call to action is being coordinated by organizers in Vancouver that
have decided to take focused action against the corporate sponsors of the
2010 Games in support of and in solidarity with the diverse movements in
opposition to the Olympic Industry and its impacts. There will be future
calls to action against other corporate sponsors.

This first call for action against the Royal Bank is endorsed by:
Indigenous Environmental Network, Rainforest Action Network, Olympic
Resistance Network, Oilsandstruth.org and Council of Canadians – BC/Yukon
Region.

If your organization would like to endorse this call please contact us by
email: 2010corporatecampaign at gmail.com

*BUILDING THE MOVEMENT*

While the organizers of the 2010 Winter Games are struggling to get
volunteers, let’s show them that opposition to the Olympics and their
sponsors runs deep. By encouraging everyone you know to support the
indigenous community of Fort Chipewyan downstream of the Tar Sands,
opposing the Tar Sands project, and exposing the 2010 Games for what they
really represent, we may just have more “volunteers” than they do.

Ultimately we hope that this simple act done by enough people across the
country will help us build a movement against the Olympics Industry, the
Tar Sands and in defense of indigenous struggles for land in the lead up
to the 2010 Winter Games.
*
2010 CONVERGENCE!*

A reminder that organizers in Vancouver are helping to organize a
convergence from Feb. 10th to 15th in response to the call that came from
the international resolution passed by over 1500 Indigenous delegates at
the Intercontinental Indigenous Peoples Gathering in Sonora, Mexico to
“boycott the 2010 Olympic Games.”
============================================================================

5) Freedom and Justice for John Moore

Freedom and Justice for John Moore

Dear supporters of freedom and justice:

We are calling upon organizations and prominent individuals from
across Canada to sign on to the enclosed statement which calls for a
judicial review of the unjust second degree murder conviction of John C.
Moore.

John is an Ojibway man from Serpent River First Nation, near Sault
Ste. Marie, Ontario. In 1978, he was convicted of second degree murder.
Yet John was not present when the crime was committed and he played no
part whatsoever in planning or executing it. His sole connection to the
crime was that he spent time earlier that same day with the two men who
did commit it. Over the course of two trials that were steeped in systemic
racism, this was deemed sufficient for John to spend ten years in
Millhaven Penitentiary. One of the most visible examples of this racism
was that John was convicted by an all-white jury, despite the fact that
Sault Ste. Marie and its surrounding areas have significant First Nations
populations.

In a ruling on another individual's case in 1987, the Supreme Court
of Canada declared the law under which John had been convicted to be
unconstitutional. Noone would be convicted of murder today just
because of spending time with murderers earlier on the day that they
committed their crime.

Yet to this day, John bears the stigma of a murder conviction. It follows
him when he meets new people. It follows him when he needs to seek
employment. More than that, his choices and opportunities, not to
mention his dignity, are circumscribed by the parole supervision to
which he will be forced to submit for the rest of his life if his
conviction is not overturned. He must ask permission every time he
wishes to leave Sudbury, Ontario, and this seriously limits his freedom
of movement and his ability to find meaningful employment.

John has been an active participant in social justice struggles in
Sudbury for many years. He remains passionately committed to seeking
freedom and justice for himself, for other indigenous people who
have been targeted by the justice system, and, indeed, for all people.
Justice and Freedom for John Moore is a committee comprised of John
and some of his core supporters in Sudbury.

John is ultimately seeking full exoneration, but at the moment his
key demand is a review of his conviction by the federal Justice
Department.

To strengthen that demand, our committee is asking for organizations
and prominent individuals from across the country to sign on to the
included statement, which recognizes the injustice of John's situation and
calls for a review of his conviction.

Please also find a personal statement from John enclosed in this package,
as well as a few words in support of John from Glenn Thibeault, NDP Member
of Parliament for Sudbury.

If you wish further information about John's case or would like a speaker
on the issue, please send mail to Justice and Freedom For John Moore, c/o
Glenn Thibeault, MP, 40 Elm Street, Suite 102a, Rainbow Centre, Sudbury,
ON, P3C 1S8. Or you can email us sudburyawo at gmail.com.

And, once you have all the information you need, please endorse the
included statement and support John Moore's quest for justice and
freedom, and the broader struggle against racism in Canada.

Sincerely

Justice and Freedom for John Moore

A message from John Moore:

What my unconstitutional second degree murder conviction boils down
to be, is an innocent Aboriginal man spending ten years in prison for a
murder that he absolutely and unequivocally did not commit! An another
22 years asking the Canadian Government to review my wrongful
unconstitutional second degree murder conviction!

Losing everything that was part of my life, my freedom, my family,
memories that can never be recovered. Those memories are gone
forever! I lost a lot more than anyone can imagine! Among those losses
were the deaths of my dad Ira Moore, who was killed in a hit and run
accident in Ottawa, the passing of my grandmother Jeannie, the passing of
one of my sons, the passing of my sister-in-laws, the passing of a number
of Uncles, Aunts and some Cousins and the passing of some very close
friends. All these losses happened while I was locked up in prison for a
murder that I did not play any part in.

It was also proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was not present
when the murder of Mr. Donald Lanthier, the Sault Ste. Marie cab
driver was committed!

John C. Moore
An innocent Aboriginal man fighting for justice and freedom in Canada.

A message from Glenn Thibeault, NDP Member of Parliament for Sudbury: John
Moore has been seeking justice since 1978. He has walked a long
road since then, from a father of three living in Sault Ste. Marie,
and into a prejudiced legal system. The promise of his younger life, as
a college graduate, chef and a family man, was washed away when he was
convicted for a crime he did not commit.

Enduring a lifetime on parole, John has proven his determination to
clear his name. He has worked tirelessly to maintain his faith in
the system which failed him, pursuing appeals all the way to the Supreme
Court. Since his trial, the law he was convicted under was ruled
unconstitutional, and yet his requests for review to successive
Federal Ministers of Justice have fallen on deaf ears.

As a native man, John Moore received the same treatment from the
Canadian justice system that all aboriginals could expect, when in
1978 an all-white jury ruled on his case in a city surrounded by native
communities. Thirty years later, he deserves more from all of us.

Please
help me find justice for John Moore.
Sincerely,
Glenn Thibeault, MP

Please show your support from justice and freedom by signing on to
the following statement of support for John Moore:

John C. Moore, an Ojibway man from Serpent River First Nation, was
convicted of second degree murder in 1978. This happened despite the
fact that he was not present when the crime was committed and had no
role whatsoever in perpetrating it, and was based solely on him
having spent time earlier that day with the individuals who committed the
crime. His trials were tainted with systemic racism. The law under
which he was convicted was ruled unconstitutional in 1987, and noone would
be convicted under similar circumstances today. Yet Moore continues to
bear the burden of the stigma of this conviction. He must regularly report
to a parole officer and must ask permission if he wishes to leave the city
of Sudbury, Ontario, which is impeding his freedom of movement and his
capacity to find meaningful work. For all of these reasons, and in
recognition of the long history of indigenous people being targeted
unfairly by the Canadian justice system, we, the individuals and groups
listed below, call upon the Government of Canada to conduct a review of
Moore's conviction.

Name or Organization:
 ____________________________________________________________

Signature:

______________________________________________________________________