[Indigsol] IPSMO Newsletter April 1 - 14

Sun Apr 4 17:39:24 PDT 2010

Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO)
Newsletter February 8, 2010

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The Indigenous Peoples’ Solidarity Movement Ottawa acknowledges that the
city of Ottawa exists on occupied Omàmìwinini (Algonquin) territory.

IPSMO is a grassroots organization that directly supports indigenous
peoples in diverse struggles for justice. We also work within communities
to challenge the lies and half-truths about indigenous peoples and
colonization that dominate Canadian society. IPSMO is open to both
indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and focuses on local and regional
campaigns.

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Table of Contents
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1)	IPSM Ottawa Updates
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   2) Meetings
   2a) IPSM Meeting
   2b) New Member’s Meeting
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   3) Events
   3a) Decolonial Study Group, April 25 at 2pm
   3b) Indigenous Solidarity for Settlers, Workshop Presentation at
       Organizing for Justice, Mayday Weekend, May 1 – 2.
   3c) “You Are On Indian Land” Akwesasne’s Land Struggles, Past and
       Present, May 14 at 7pm
   3d) Anishinàbikwe Rising Project Talking Circles

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      4a) Six women arrested at sit-in at Chuck Strahl’s office
      4b) Defenders of the land: Indigenous survival and liberation in
times of collapse
      4c)

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IPSM Ottawa Updates:
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In March the IPSM Ottawa was focused on supporting of 4 our activists who
were arrested during blockades of Hwy. 117 in support of the Algonquin of
Barriere Lake.

We were also involved in supporting the activists from “Missing Justice”
who did a sit-in at Chuck Strahl’s office.  We will include an article
regarding this action in the newsletter.

Finally, we are organizing several events in the next months including a
“New Member’s Meeting,” an educational fund raiser about Akwesasne’s past
and current land struggles, and, as always, our monthly Decolonial Study
Group.  The upcoming Study Group will focus on the Indian Act and its
impacts on Indigenous People.
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Meetings
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2a) IPSM Meetings

The next meeting will be during the week of April 12 – 15.  If you are
interested in attending, contact us: ipsmo at riseup.net

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2b) New Member’s Meeting

The “New Member’s Meeting will be happening during the week of April 26 –
30.  The date will be confirmed soon.  If you are interested in attending,
contact us: ipsmo at riseup.net

New Member's Meetings are an opportunity for people to find out more about
the work we do, how we operate as a group, and ways for them to get
involved.

Currently we have 4 organizing priorities, which include support for the
Ardoch Algonquin and Barriere Lake Algonquin, Native Women's Struggles and
two-Spirited People's Struggles.
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Events:
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3a) Decolonial Study Group, April 25 at 2pm

Decolonial Study Group
Sunday, April 25 at 2pm
Exile Infoshop
256 Bank St. (2nd Floor)
Everyone Welcome!
Contact us if you have mobility issues and want to attend
ipsmo at riseup.net
http://www.ipsmo.org

The Decolonial Study Group is a project of the IPSM Ottawa. We will be
deepening and broadening our understanding and analysis of indigenous
struggles for decolonization, social justice and revolution. We will be
doing this through readings, workshops, oral presentations, movies and so
on.

The reading for the study group on Sunday, April 25 will focus on the
Indian Act. The Indian Act is the fundamental piece of legislation through
which the Canadian state seeks to control Indigenous People in Canada.

For this study group there will be core articles which we ask everyone to
read, as well as additional articles and information for people who have
the time and the interest to get deeper into the subject matter.

And everyone is welcome whether they've done the readings or not!
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Indigenous Solidarity for Settlers

May 1 – 2
Organizing for Justice May Day Weekend
Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa
http://www.ipsmo.org
More information when available.

This will be a weekend of workshops and discussions.  For more
information: http://www.organizingforjustice.ca

Indigenous Solidarity for Settlers

The goal of the workshop is to educate non-indigenous people about the
importance of indigenous solidarity and to teach people and learn from
them about what solidarity means and how to do it. The IPSM Ottawa is a
predominantly settler organization that works toward building a movement
of non-indigenous people actively supporting indigenous people struggling
for justice and decolonization.

Our workshop "Indigenous Solidarity for Settlers" consists of three parts:

1) Looking at colonization from an anti-oppressive framework.

We look at how colonization has historically and continues to be imposed
through individual behaviour and institutional and cultural oppression.

2) What does solidarity mean?

We focus on what solidarity is and how to "do it". The word solidarity is
used a lot, especially in radical organizing, but it is not always easy to
define or to do. Put simply we believe that it is essential in solidarity
work to "listen, take direction and stick around".

3) Case study

Using an example from the organizing that the IPSM has done, such as
organizing in support of the Barriere Lake Algonquin, we will explore what
solidarity work looks like in practice. Using concrete examples from our
own experiences we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this organizing
in order to examine how to do solidarity work well.
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3c) “You Are On Indian Land” Akwesasne’s Land Struggles, Past and
     Present, May 14 at 7pm

Wednesday, Mat 14 at 7pm
Exile Infoshop, 256 Bank St.
If you have mobility issues,
contact us: ipsmo at riseup.net
http://www.ipsmo.org

We will be showing the National Film Board movie, “You Are On Indian Land”
which is “A film report of the 1969 protest demonstration by Mohawk
Indians of the St. Regis Reserve on the international bridge between
Canada and the United States near Cornwall, Ontario. By blocking the
bridge, which is on the Reserve, and causing a considerable tie-up of
motor traffic, the Indians drew public attention to their grievance that
they were prohibited by Canadian authorities from duty-free passage of
personal purchases across the border; a right they claim was established
by the Jay Treaty of 1794. The film shows the confrontation with police,
and ensuing action.”

We will also have updates regarding the current and ongoing conflict
between the community and CBSA over the arming of border guards on
Akwesasne’s territory.
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3d) Anishinàbikwe Rising Project Talking Circles

This is to announce the Anishinàbikwe Rising Project Talking Circles that
will be happening in Ottawa at Wabano starting this Thursday, April 1st.

There is no need to register, it is an open event that will begin right at
5:30pm.

Anishinàbikwe Rising Project Talking Circle dates and topics:

The Circles will start at 5:30 PM at the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal
Health located at 299 Montreal Road in Ottawa.

Thursday April 1- The Gift of the East

Thursday May 6 – The Gift of the South

Thursday June 3 – The Gift of the West

Thursday July 8 – The Gift of the North

Thursday August 5 – Balance in the 4 Directions

In Spirit,

Jerry Longboat

Cultural Coordinator
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health
299 Montreal Rd.
Ottawa, ON     K1N 6B8
Tel: 613-748-0657 X 211
Fax: 613-748-9364
jlongboat at wabano.com
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Articles
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4a) Six women arrested at sit-in at Chuck Strahl’s office
http://www.missingjustice.ca/2010/03/six-women-arrested/

At 12:50pm on Monday, March 29th RCMP officers arrested six women who were
peacefully refusing to leave Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl’s office
until he pledged to restore funding to the Aboriginal Health Foundation.
The sit-in began at 12:05pm.
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4b) Defenders of the land: Indigenous survival and liberation in times of
collapse
http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/healing-earth/2010/03/defenders-land-indigenous-survival-and-liberation-times-collaps
Waziytawin is a Dakota writer, scholar, and activist, who urges Indigenous
people as well as non-Indigenous people to think seriously about the
threats of collapse and the need for land defence.
She is from The Place Where They Dig for Yellow Medicine, also known as
the Upper Sioux Reservation in southwestern Minnesota. She also holds the
Indigenous Peoples' Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance program at
the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She is the author of
numerous books on the Dakota nation and decolonization, and has been a
strong community activist working on truth-telling initiatives in the
Minnesota/St. Paul area. You can learn more about her at
www.waziyatawin.net.
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4c) Missing-women advocacy group expects Helena Guergis to cut funding

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/missing-women-advocacy-group-expects-helena-guergis-to-cut-funding/article1519166/

Jennifer Ditchburn

Status of women minister Helena Guergis is expected to cut funding for
further research on missing and murdered aboriginal women as part of a
refocusing on the government's support for the issue.

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4d) Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice

Often, my short walks from the bus stop to wherever I happen to be going
on campus — usually straight to St. John’s College for a cup of fair-trade
coffee — I have been met with an unnerving puzzle. Outside of the parking
garage there has been, on more than one occasion, a long line-up of idling
automobiles winding around the corner onto the short access road in front
of Max Bell. The vehicles — about 95 per cent of the time — are occupied
by only one person and they are invariably nursing a Tim Hortons coffee
bought from a drive-through en route. I wonder what is going through the
minds of the drivers waiting in line. Do they think they should have biked
or taken the bus to school, or that we had best start organizing carpools?
Or are they wishing more parkades would be built for their convenience?
Then I start to wonder if these drivers ever wonder where the fuel they
are burning so inefficiently is coming from, and if they did know, would
they even care or would this knowledge alter their patterns of
consumption? We are a society that takes a very rich lifestyle for
granted, resources wasted away by an ungrateful, unethical and
disorganized society.

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Video
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Two-person logging road blockade in Wet'suwet'en territory near Smithers,
BC. The last stand of intact forest of their traditional territory is in
question, following 10 years of Indigenous opposition and government
inaction. Featuring: Richard Sam Produced by: Amy Miller & Rémy Huberdeau

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/3128
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