[Indigsol] IPSMO Newsletter, Dec. 28 - Jan. 3
Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement -Ottawa
ipsmo at riseup.net
Sat Jan 2 07:55:39 PST 2010
IPSMO Newsletter Dec. 28 - Jan. 3
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Meetings, Events, Articles
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The Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement of Ottawa acknowledges that
the city of Ottawa exists on stolen Omàmìwinini (Algonquin) land.
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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. The organization is open to
both indigenous and non-indigenous people, and focuses on local and
regional campaigns.
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Newsletter Table of Contents:
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1) IPSM Ottawa Updates & Meetings
1a) Next IPSMO General Meeting in January, date TBA
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2) Events
2a) Jan 10: IPSMO Decolonial Study Group
2b) Jan 11-14: Aboriginal Awareness Week at Carleton University
2c) Jan 22-23: Global Apartheid Conference
2d) Global Apartheid Conference Callout for Workshops
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3) No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
3a) Torch Ignites Resistance in Kitchener
3b) Olympic Torch Ambushed in Guelph
3c) News and updates from No One Is Illegal, no2010.com, and Olympic
Resistance Network
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4) Articles/Media
4a) Ottawa sued over mould on First Nation reserve
4b) Nunavut's radioactive issue
4c) Interviews from Defenders of the Land 2008
4d) Video from the Remembering Residential Schools event
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5) Calls for support
5a) Call for cross-Canada mobilizing: Extinguish the Olympic torch!
5b) National Call to Action Against 2010 Olympic Sponsors
5c) Send Ecard - Support Chapters/Indigo Boycott Campaign
5d) Join the Organizing for Justice listserv and online forums
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Newsletter
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1) IPSMO Updates & Meetings
1a) Next IPSMO general meeting to be held in January; date and location TBA.
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2) Events
2a) Jan 10: IPSMO Decolonial Study Group
Decolonial Study Group
Sunday, Jan. 10 at 1pm
Exile Infoshop, 256 Bank St. (2nd Floor)
Sorry this location is not wheelchair accessible
Everyone Welcome!
ipsmo at riseup.net
http://www.ipsmo.org
The reading for the study group on Sunday, Jan. 13 will focus on "British
Colombia".
The Decolonial Study Group is a new 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.
Some of the readings for the next study group are to be determined.
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!
Core reading:
"Oppose the BC Treaty Process: BC Treaty Monster Grows 3 Heads" Warrior
Publications & "New Relationship or 'Final Solution'" by Arthur Manuel:
both posted at http://noii-van.resist.ca/?page_id=37
"Domestic Laws versus Aboriginal Visions: An Analysis of the Delgamuukw
Decision" by Candice Metallic and Patricia Monture: posted at
http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol1no2_2002/metallic_angus.html
Additional reading:
http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1997/1997scr3-1010/1997scr3-1010.html
2b) Jan 11-14: Aboriginal Awareness Week at Carleton University
The Aboriginal Service Centre, Equity Services, and the Centre for
Aboriginal Culture in Education present
ABORIGINAL AWARENESS WEEK
JAN 11-14, 2010, Porter Hall (Second floor of Unicentre), Carleton University
Aboriginal art work, movies, drumming, panel discussions, lectures and
cuisine including making your own bannock on a stick! It’s all part of
Aboriginal Awareness Week at Carleton University.
Monday: The Child Welfare System: Past and Present Realities
11:30- Opening Ceremonies with Elder Paul Skanks, and President Reilly
Runte's Opening Remarks.
Discussion with Cindy Blackstock, President of the First Nations
Child and Family Caring Society on contemporary issues affecting
First Nations children
3:00- Join individuals from Every Woman’s Drum as we march through the
tunnels
5:00- Aboriginal art work available at Mike’s Place
6:00 Aboriginal movies showcasing in the Aboriginal Service Centre
Lounge (316A Unicentre)
Tuesday: Metis Traditions, Identity and Legal Challenges
12:00 “Join Ida Meekis at the Teepee (outside of Loeb) and make your own
Bannock on a stick!
1:00- Interactive discussion with Ottawa Métis Council President, Robert
Pellerin
2:00- Cultural Crafts
3:00- Panel on Métis identity and contemporary legal challenges. The
Alberta Metis Settlements and the Métis Nation of Ontario talk
about the significance of cases such as Powley and Peavine v. Alberta
5:00- Aboriginal Art Work available at Mike’s Place
6:00- Aboriginal movies showcasing in the Aboriginal Service Centre Lounge
(316A Unicentre)
Wednesday: Inuit Communities and Anti-Poverty Policy
12:00 “Come out to enjoy Inuit cultural expressions and a sampling of
traditional Inuit Cuisine
2:30- Inuit Communities and Anti-Poverty Policy Lecture
5:00- Aboriginal Art Work Available at Mike’s Place
6:00- Aboriginal movies showcasing in the Aboriginal Service Centre
Lounge (316A Unicentre)
Thursday: Ikwewag: Issues Affecting Aboriginal Woman
12:00- National Aboriginal Showcase in the Galleria (4th floor Unicentre)
1:30- Native Woman's Association, Pauktuutit and Assembly of First
Nations, Woman Council panel on violence against women and
gender-based analysis
3:00- Jessica Yee, Director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network
talks about working at the only sexual health network, that isn’t
disease-controlled focused, and is for and by Native youth
5:00- Aboriginal art work available at Mike's Place
7:00- After-Party Concert, with headliners "Digging Roots", Lakota Jonez
and many more to be confirmed
For more information, please contact:
Sheila Grantham, Aboriginal Cultural Liaison Officer, Tel: 613-520-2600,
ext. 1787, sheila_grantham at carleton.ca
2c) Jan 22-23: Global Apartheid Conference
OPIRG Carleton and OPIRG-Ottawa/GRIPO-Ottawa present
GLOBAL APARTHEID: a conference/convergence
global apartheid
— noun A system of global inequality that dictates access to wealth,
power and basic human rights based on race and place.
— origin Afrikaans, ‘separateness’
January 22-23, 2010 - Ottawa
panels // workshops // skillshares // actions // art
feat. presentations by shawn brant, rozena maart, jaggi singh, harsha
walia and others
for updates:
globalapartheid2010 at gmail.com
613 520 2757
http://opirgcarletonpis2010.wordpress.com
2d) Global Apartheid Conference Callout for Workshops
Every year, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) organizes a
weekend of workshops about environmental and social justice issues,
providing activists the opportunity for skills development and cooperative
learning. This year, OPIRG Carleton and OPIRG-Ottawa/GRIPO-Ottawa have
teamed up to organize a conference focusing on Global Apartheid: the
system of global inequality that dictates access to wealth, power and
basic human rights based on race and place*. Apartheid, an
institutionalized system of racial subjugation which means ‘separateness’
in Afrikaans, did not end when South African apartheid formally ended in
1994, but continues to manifest itself today in many local and global
contexts: Indigenous struggles for justice from Turtle Island to
Palestine; Canada's system of unfree migrant labour; struggles against
colonial borders and racist citizenship regimes around the world; and
racialized economic apartheid, to name but a few examples.
We are currently soliciting workshops for the conference from community
organizers and activists. The Global Apartheid conference will take place
on January 22 and 23, 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario, and the workshop component
will take place from approximately 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday January 23rd,
in 1.5 hour blocks. Workshops which discuss how the concept of 'global
apartheid' pertains to your particular movement are encouraged. Workshops
are an important way to offer conference attendees the ability to tune
into the issues, movements, groups, and ideas that most invigorate them,
as well as making all of us aware of the thread that ties our struggles
together, and closing in on the solution of cutting the cord, so to speak.
Suggested workshop topics could include: no borders organizing;
anti-Olympics organizing; the anti-Israeli apartheid movement; Canada's
economic apartheid; Indigenous solidarity; gendering the apartheid
analysis; anti-G8/G20 organizing from an anti-colonial perspective;
opposing the national security agenda; queer struggles against apartheid;
and opposing the prison industrial complex, to name a few.
We would like to encourage a level of critical analysis that can still be
fun and interactive. We are open to a variety of formats, keeping in mind
that we are committed to an anti-oppressive and accessible forum for all
participants (i.e. workshops should be interactive/participatory for all
participants). Workshop facilitators should expect between 10-20 people
per workshop. If you want to cap the number of participants attending
your workshop, please let us know.
Workshop proposals must be typed, and include the following:
* The title of your workshop
* A summary of the goals/focus of the workshop
* A detailed outline of your workshop
* Any props, equipment or space requirements you might need
* A short (2-3 sentences) biography of the individual or group
presenting the workshop
* Subject matter that may trigger painful experiences of participants
We are also open to creating a panel session made up of shorter 20-minute
presentations by organizers or groups, if you do not wish to organize a
full 1.5 hour workshop.
While OPIRG is a student-funded social justice organization with a limited
budget, we will do our best to subsidize travel costs and provide
honoraria to all presenters. If you require travel assistance or an
honorarium, please include that in your workshop proposal.
**Please forward workshop submissions to: Globalapartheid2010 at gmail.com
The deadline for submitting workshop proposals is January 1st, 2010.
Any questions? Email globalapartheid2010 at gmail.com or call (613) 520 2757.
In solidarity and thanks,
The Global Apartheid Conference Organizers
Stay updated: http://opirgcarletonpis2010.wordpress.com/
*For the formal definition of the crime of apartheid in international law,
visit http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/res/3068(XXVIII)
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3) No Olympics 2010
3a) Torch Ignites Resistance in Kitchener
On Saturday December 27th, in Kitchener Ontario over 200 people headed the
call out for a public mobilization against the 2010 olympic torch and
acted in solidarity with those on the west coast of this country who are
being negatively impacted because of the upcoming winter games.
For full story, see: http://peaceculture.org/drupal/node/432
3b) Olympic Torch Ambushed in Guelph, Ontario – Torch Taken Down! - One
Arrest
Anarchist News, 2009-12-28
On December 28, 2009, at 7:30 am, about 40-50 Anti-Olympics protesters
took to the streets in Guelph to unwelcome the 2010 Olympics Torch Relay.
When the torch was approaching, the protesters took to the street to
precede the Torch through downtown. Stacks of pamphlets were handed out or
thrown around the patriotic Olympics fans, which described the reasons why
we oppose the 2010 Olympics.
AND THEN! The protest and the torch had a head-on collision! The torch
relay rounded a corner only to be met with chants and banners “NO
OLYMPICS ON STOLEN NATIVE LANDâ€! A scuffle then occurred between the
torch security/entourage and the protesters. The torch bearer and one of
their escorts fell to the ground, dropping the torch. Police rushed to the
scene but it was too late. The torch was ambushed.
One person was arrested and is being charged with assault.
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10363
3c) News and updates from No One Is Illegal, no2010.com, and Olympic
Resistance Network
The No One Is Illegal website has been updated with a revamped
Anti-Olympic section. This section now includes VIDEO and AUDIO
compilations, along with key articles and analysis on a range of
Olympic-related struggles. With daily Olympic madness, this site aims to
provide a broader context on some of the critical issues.
Please visit: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?cat=33
For comprehensive news updates and resources, please check no2010.com and
for Olympic resistance updates, check olympicresistance.net
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4) Articles/Media
4a) Ottawa sued over mould on First Nation reserve
Ottawa sued over mould on First Nation reserve: Class action alleges First
Nation reserve relocated to a swamp
Tom Blackwell, National Post, Published: Monday, December 21, 2009
When the Long Lake First Nation discovered potentially dangerous mould
throughout homes on its remote reserve in 2001, leaders took drastic
action. The northern Ontario community was evacuated, a state of emergency
declared and a roadblock set up on the Trans-Canada Highway to draw
attention to the situation.
Now a judge has given the green light to a unique class-action lawsuit
that alleges the federal government actually created the massive mould
problem and a spate of serious illness on the reserve when it relocated
the band's houses to an area that residents call a swamp.
The recent decision "certifying" the class action is the first court
ruling to address either the epidemic of mould on reserves across Canada,
or the issue of who is responsible for providing adequate housing to First
Nations, says the lawyer spearheading the case. It came despite a bid by
Health Canada to exclude the opinions of one of its own scientists, who
has said at least some Long Lake homes were unfit for human habitation.
The federal department cancelled a study that Dr. Hari Vijay had planned
on the reserve's mould problem, and tried to prevent her from giving
pretrial evidence in the suit, according to the ruling. The Ontario
Superior Court judge rejected the government's argument that the Health
Canada expert was unqualified to speak on the issue, and allowed her to
testify.
>> See full article at
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=2365994
4 b) Nunavut’s radioactive issue
Nunatsiaq News, December 28, 2009
If the Nunavut land claims agreement actually worked the way its
starry-eyed backers promised it would work nearly 20 years ago, there
would be no need in Nunavut for a independent lobby group to scrutinize
uranium exploration and mining.
But the public institutions and Inuit organizations set up to make the
Nunavut land claims agreement work have so far failed in the performance
of one of the land claim agreement’s primary tasks.
That task is to encourage the sustainable development of non-renewable
resources: a form of economic development that serves human needs while,
at the same time, ensuring the environmental damage caused by such
development is kept to a minimum.
Because of a long series of foolish blunders, most committed within the
past 10 years or so, no reasonable person can now claim that the
environmental protection system laid out within the land claims agreement
is capable of inspiring public confidence.
So it’s no surprise that this past November, a small group of Nunavut
residents formed an independent pressure group called Nunavummiut
Makitagunarningit.
>> See full article at
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/7547_nunavuts_radioactive_issue/
4c) Interviews from Defenders of the Land 2008
*A network of Indigenous communities and activists in land struggle across
Canada -- interviews from November 2008 Winnipeg gathering -- 13
interviews -- 133 minutes*
Between November 12-14, 2008, the historic Defenders of the Land gathering
took place in Winnipeg. The gathering brought together dozens of
grassroots activists, elders, youth, women and men from Indigenous
communities across
"Canada" who are in active struggle to defend their land and assert
self-determination. The second Defenders of the Land gathering was
recently held in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories, in November 2009.
Members of No One Is Illegal-Montreal have recently uploaded thirteen
interviews with participants from the 2008 Defenders of the Land Gathering
in Winnipeg. The interviews are now available for viewing and download on
the IsumaTV website. IsumaTV is an independent interactive network of
Inuit and Indigenous multimedia.
--> The Defenders of the Land channel, with all thirteen interviews, is
accessible here: http://www.isuma.tv/hi/en/defenders-land/ <--
Collectively, the interviews provide a frontline perspective on diverse
and linked struggles for land, freedom and self-determination on Turtle
Island, as well as reflections on the Defenders of the Land gathering
itself.
DVD copies of the 2008 Defenders of the Land interviews can also be
ordered from No One Is Illegal-Montreal for $5/copy (plus shipping).
Please contact nooneisillegal at gmail.com to arrange to get DVD copies
mailed to you.
For more information about Defenders of the Land, see:
www.defendersoftheland.org
www.isuma.tv/hi/en/defenders-land
www.nooneisillegal.org
www.indigenoussolidaritymontreal.wordpress.com
4 d) Video from the Remembering Residential Schools event
Videos have been posted from the Oct 25, 2009 Remembering Residential
Schools event (part of Ottawa's Indigenous Sovereignty Week). Featuring
elders/residential school survivors: Irene Lindsay, Gordon Williams,
Thomas Louttit, Viola Thomas. Videos posted at http://blip.tv/file/2906317
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5) Calls for support
5a) Call for cross-Canada mobilizing: Extinguish the Olympic torch!
>From October 31 2009 - February 12 2010, the Olympic Torch Relay--A Path
of Northern Lights--will be traveling across Canada. The Olympic
Resistance Network, based in Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories,
is calling on and encouraging our allies to coordinate efforts in over
2000 communities to oppose and resist the Torch Relay.
The origins of the Torch Relay lie in the dark history of the 1936 Games
in Berlin, where it was devised as a means to spread Nazi fascism and to
promote the Third Reich. The Royal Bank of Canada and Coca Cola are the
main sponsors of the 2010 Torch relay. RBC is the top financier of the
environmentally devastating Alberta Tar Sands, while Coca Cola has been
responsible for health degradation as part of the junk food industry,
massive depletion of groundwater and toxic waste pollution in India, and
involved in hiring paramilitary groups to violently repress union
organizers in Colombia.
It is becoming increasingly evident that far from being simply about
sport, the 2010 Olympics is rooted in displacement, corporate greed,
militarization, and repression. While Olympic corporate sponsors are
getting bailed out, Indigenous lands are being stolen, more people are
becoming homeless, thousands are losing their jobs and access to public
services, the environment is being destroyed, and civil liberties are
being eroded as over a billion dollars are being sunk into security and
surveillance measures.
This Torch Relay will be the longest in-country relay in Olympic history,
giving us the chance to make some anti-Olympic history! No Olympics on
Stolen Native Land!
If you are organizing an event or action in your city, town, or community
please email us the details so we can compile the information and build
strength and unity in our efforts by having this information available on
our website.
For full route information and scheduleof the relay, see
http://olympicresistance.net/
Contact email: olympicresistance at riseup.net
5b) National Call to Action Against 2010 Olympic Sponsors: Blood on your
hands
*The 2010 Corporate Campaign continues…*
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.
*Hudson’s Bay Company: Blood on your hands*
HBC's red 2010 mitts are selling like hotcakes, but we want to draw
attention to the company's colonial history of bloodshed.
HBC is the oldest corporation in North American and they took control over
several areas of Canada, forcing their rules of trade, immigration,
settlement and governance onto indigenous people.
We’ve just completed a flyer that you can distribute in your community. In
it we highlight the Bay’s ongoing colonial role from the small pox to
Cowichan sweaters.
We encourage you to print off the flyer, fold them in half and sneak copies
into clothes at the Bay. You can download this flyer here:
http://2010campaign.wordpress.com/
Put ‘em up Posters
We’ve also just completed several posters highlighting the crimes of
various
2010 Olympic Sponsors. Please see our website for posters that you can put
up in your city! Look out General Electric, CTV, Dow and Coke- we’re onto
you.
*Royal Bank of Canada*
In October 2009, we successfully mobilized against Olympic national partner
The Royal Bank Canada (RBC). Actions took place at RBC locations over
several weeks in Vancouver, Whistler, Nelson, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and
Waterloo.
RBC has been identified by the Rainforest Action Network as the biggest
financiers of the Tar Sands. 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.
We encourage you to keep distributing flyers outside the Royal Bank in the
lead up to the Games.
Please join us as we continue to mobilize against Olympic sponsors in an
effort to build awareness and mobilize people in the lead up to the Games.
Keep in touch and let us know where you take action:
2010corporatecampaign at gmail.com
http://2010campaign.wordpress.com/
5c) Send Ecard - Support Chapters/Indigo Boycott Campaign
*Please Post Widely*
It’s coming up to the holiday shopping season - send your friends, family
and colleagues a boycott Chapters Indigo eCard and wish them an apartheid
free holiday season! The eCard is customised and ready to send at this
link: http://www.greetlets.com/send/?go=start&c=0q7vpn19ve24c.
It only takes a second to send the eCard – please support the BDS campaign
by spreading the message about the Chapters Indigo boycott.
CAIA (Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid) launched the campaign to
boycott Indigo Books and Music Inc. in December 2006 with the demand that
its controlling owners, Heather Reisman and Gerry Shwartz, publicly cut
all financial ties to Heseg - Foundation for Lone Soldiers. For more info
on the campaign see full CAIA booklet at:
http://www.caiaweb.org/sites/caiaweb.org/files/indigo%20leaflet%20may%2009(5).pdf.
HESEG - which was founded by Ms. Reisman and Mr. Schwartz - provides
scholarships and other support to former “lone soldiers†in the Israeli
military – individuals from outside Israel with no family in the country
who join the Israeli military and participate in all aspects of its
repression of Palestinians. In January 2009 HESEG representatives handed
out $160,000 worth of “thank you†gifts to Israeli soldiers participating
in the attacks on Gaza.
Check out the Chapters Indigo boycott webpage and see the photo of HESEG
board member Bushinsky giving out "thank you" gifts to Israeli Soldiers
in Gaza
during the 2008/9 attacks:
http://www.caiaweb.org/sites/caiaweb.org/files/bushinski.pdf
In the lead-up to this holiday season there are a number of things you can
do to support the Chapters / Indigo boycott campaign:
* Support your local independent bookstore instead of buying gifts from
Indigo, Chapters, World’s Biggest Bookstore, Smith Books, Coles, The Book
Company or Indigo Spirit.
Boycott Chapters Indigo gift cards:
*Don’t buy Chapters.Indigo gift cards - buy gift cards instead from your
local independent bookstore Ask your friends and family to do the same.
*If you are part of a non-profit/charitable organization, don’t use
Chapters Indigo gift cards to acknowledge contributions to your
organization. Instead send a letter to Indigo telling them why you will
not be giving their gift cards this season. Letters available at
http://www.caiaweb.org/indigoboycott
* Send the 2009 Chapter/Indigo Campaign eCard greeting to your friends and
family this holiday season. Suggested message: “Have a happy
apartheid-free holiday season – boycott Chapters Indigo stores and gift
cards. For more information visit: http://www.caiaweb.org/indigoboycott
5d) Join the Organizing for Justice listserv and online forums
The "Organizing For Justice" conference has set up a (low traffic)
announcement-only email listserv, and online forums, for people who are
interested:
> list: https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/org4j-announce
> forums: http://organizingforjustice.ca/forum
** note: don't need to log in to use forums (read or post)
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http://ipsmo.wordpress.com/video-archives/
IPSMO's Facebook page:
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