[Indigsol] IPSMO newsletter - May 6

Thu May 6 07:18:00 PDT 2010

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IPSMO Newsletter - May 6, 2010
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The Indigenous Peoples' Solidarity Movement of Ottawa (IPSMO) acknowledges
that the city of Ottawa exists on occupied 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. Learn more at www.ipsmo.org.

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CONTENTS

1) IPSMO Updates
- Join us in organizing for Indigenous Solidarity Week
-
- Transportation to Toronto on June 24 Day of Action on indigenous rights

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2) Events

2a) May 8: Equal in Dignity and Rights: Why the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples Matters To All of Us

2b) May 13: Rights Action speaking tour: Community & Indigenous resistance
to harmful mining in Guatemala and Honduras

2c) May 17: Film Screening and discussion with Dehcho First Nation leaders

2d) May 19: "You Are On Indian Land" Akwesasne's Land Struggles Past and
Present - Movie Screening and Speakers

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3) Articles

3a) RBS in battle with the Cree First Nation over dirty oil development
project on tribal lands

3b) The road from Copenhagen to Cochabamba passes through the Amazon --
part II

3d) List of missing or murdered aboriginal women grows to at least 582:
report

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1) IPSMO UPDATES & MEETINGS

1a) Join us in organizing for Indigenous Solidarity Week

The Indigenous Sovereignty Ottawa Organizing Committee, a coalition of
groups who support the "Defenders of the Land" network and the principle
of
indigenous sovereignty, has begun to meet and plan for Indigenous
Sovereignty Week 2010.  If you or your group are interested in getting
involved, contact us: ipsmo at riseup.net

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1c) Transportation to Toronto for June 24 Day of Action for Indigenous Rights

Defenders of the Land, a network of Indigenous Nations in land struggle,
is calling for June 24 to be a cross-Canada Day of Action on Indigenous
rightsduring the anti-G8/G20 protests in Toronto. IPSMO is organizing to
arrange free transportation from Ottawa to Toronto on the Day of Action
for Indigenous people who want to attend. We will also try and arrange
free billeting and food.

We are also organizing to bring non-Indigenous people who want to attend
the June 24 Day of Action down to Toronto. However, priority will be given
to Indigenous people. We also ask that non-Indigenous people who want to
come make a donation. Everyone is welcome.

The exact time that vehicles will be leaving Ottawa is yet to be
determined. We will also be co-ordinating pick up points and meeting times
for people who want to attend but do not live in Ottawa.

Interested? Contact us at ipsmo at riseup.net

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2. EVENTS

2a) Equal in Dignity and Rights: Why the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples Matters To All of Us

Saturday, May 8 - Free registration - 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Ave. (off Richmond Rd.;
bus #2)

Learn more about the Declaration and why it's so important to both
indigenous and non-indigenous peoples (Hint - Is there racism in Canada?);
â€¢ Strategize on how to get Canada to endorse the Declaration;
â€¢ Help draft a resolution which may be circulated through KAIROS to
other faith communities;

Learn more about KAIROS, its Indigenous Rights Network, and next steps.
To register, call the Church office, 613-725-1066
For information, contact Marnie
Johnstone, 613-237-3443, <mjohnstone at sympatico.ca>

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2b) Rights Action speaking tour: Community & Indigenous resistance to
harmful mining in Guatemala and Honduras

Thursday, May 13, 2010, 7 pm
JK Wylie Boardroom, PSAC Building,
233 Gilmour St.

FEATURING SPEAKERS:
Javier de Leon, from Guatemala;
Carlos Amador, from Honduras;
Karen Spring, Canadian with Rights
Action in Guatemala-Honduras.

Since 2000, Rights Action has been
supporting and involved with struggles related to Goldcorp Inc's open-pit,
cyanide-bonding mines in Honduras and Guatemala, and related to HudBay
Mineral's nickel mine (formerly owned by INCO and then Skye Resources) in
Guatemala.  (Atwww.rightsaction.org, there is extensive information about
health and environmental harms and human rights violations linked to these
mines and companies.)

The speakers will give first hand testimony, and show photos and
documentary films, of the environmental and health harms and human rights
violations caused directly and indirectly by Goldcorp's mines in Guatemala
and Honduras.  With Karen as a co-speaker, they will focus critical
attention on Canadian government, corporate and investor policies, as
build up to Goldcorp's annual shareholder meeting in Toronto, on May 19th.

See Snapshots of Global Injustice in Guatemala at 
http://picasaweb.google.com/peiju.wang/SnapshotsOfGlobalInjusticeInGuatemala.

We will also accept donations at this event and contribute the funds
towards the over-all costs of having the speakers from Honduras and
Guatemala to come to Canada. All profits from this fund raising will go to
the community based organizations that Rights Action supports and works
with in Honduras and Guatemala.

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2c) Film Screening and discussion
with Dehcho First Nation leaders

Monday May 17, 6 to 9 pm
JK Wylie Boardroom, PSAC Building,
233 Gilmour St. (at Metcalfe)

Join us for an evening of conversation and solidarity with leaders of
the Deh Cho First Nation. The Deh Cho, KAIROS, the IPSM Ottawa and the
Polaris Institute are hosting a screening of the film "Dehcho Ndene Gha
Nadaotsethe: Fighting for our Land" on Monday, May 17th at 6pm in Ottawa.

With:
DFN Grand Chief Samuel Gargan
DFN Elder Pat Martel
Members of DFN Negotations Team
and Filmmaker Rebecca Garrett

For more information, please contact Ed at ebianchi at kairoscanada.org.

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2d) "You Are On Indian
Land" Akwesasne's Land Struggles Past and Present
Movie Screening and Speakers
Wednesday, May 19 at 7pm
Exile Infoshop, 256 Bank St.

An educational and fund raising event

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

Speakers will include John Boots and Nona Benedict of the Akwesasne
People's Fire, a group that formed in response to the attempt by CBSA to
arm border guards on the territory of the Akwesasne Mohawks.
They were both involved in the 1969 blockade that is covered in the
movie will be talking about the long history of the Akwesasne Mohawks'
struggle for sovereignty with Canada and the United States.

Contact us if you have mobility issues and want to attend (ipsmo at riseup.net)

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3. ARTICLES

3a) RBS in battle with the Cree First
Nation over dirty oil development project on tribal lands

Herald Scotland, 18 Apr 2010

George Poitras has come a long way
to make his point.

>From his traditional Mikisew Cree homelands on the shores of Lake
Athabasca in northern Alberta, he has journeyed to Murray Place in the
centre of Stirling - to confront the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"My people are dying, and anyone involved in the tar sands industry must
take responsibility for that, including those that help fund it like RBS,"
he said. RBS, which is now 84% owned by taxpayers, stands accused of
supplying loans worth nearly £5 billion over the last three years to
companies involved in extracting oil from underground tar sands in
northern Canada.

The industry is not just dirty oil, it is "bloody oil", insisted Mr
Poitras, the 46-year-old former chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation. He
blamed the high rates of cancer among his people on toxic pollutants from
massive mining operations 150 miles upstream.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/rbs-in-battle-with-the-cree-first-nation-over-dirty-oil-development-project-on-tribal-lands-1.1021471

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3b) The road from Copenhagen to Cochabamba passes through the Amazon --
part II

By Ben Powless
Rabble.ca | April 27, 2010

There was a time when the idea of biofuel -- energy produced by simply
growing plants, instead of digging it up from the ground -- seemed like it
would solve many environmental and even social problems. Of course, this
was something that maybe we wanted to all believe -- simply by changing
the pump at the gas station, eventually we would be able use our planes,
trains and automobiles guilt-free. Then the doubts started to emerge, and
like a poorly built dam, the water eventually burst.

Today, as far as most environmentalists are concerned, the panacea of
biofuels-as-saviour is dead. We have seen that most biofuel production is
actually more fuel-intensive than using the equivalent amount of pure
gasoline. The land that has been cut down in tropical forests, from the
Amazon to Indonesia is enough to condemn the process, especially because
the monocrop plantations mean the end of all biodiversity. In Brazil, they
have been called 'green deserts' because they also suck up vast amounts of
water. Additionally, many farmers and Indigenous Peoples have been kicked
off these lands, and a large part of the recent food crises worldwide has
been blamed on the amount of crops being taken off the market to feed our
cars. There are many ways biofuels can be produced sustainably, but these
cases are the exception.

http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2010/04/road-copenhagen-cochabamba-passes-through-amazon-%E2%80%93-part-ii

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3c) List of missing or murdered aboriginal women grows to at least 582:
report

By Amy Dempsey
Monday, 03 May 2010 | Firstperspective.ca

OTTAWA - A new report has added 62 more names to a growing list of missing
or murdered aboriginal women and girls. The report by the Native Women's
Association of Canada pegs the total at at least 582. The report says the
data is limited by the way information is collected - there's no national
missing-persons database and police records don't always indicate
aboriginal status.

The Sisters in Spirit initiative led the five-year project to document and
report on cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. The
report found that aboriginal females are more likely to be killed by a
stranger than nonaboriginal women. It says many victims are targeted
simply because they are aboriginal and their attackers assume they will
not fight back or be missed.

http://www.firstperspective.ca/index.php/news/219-list-of-missing-or-murdered-aboriginal-women-grows-to-at-least-582-report

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