[Indigsol] URGENT Algonquins of Barriere Lake callout for donations

[ipsmo at riseup.net]

Please Circulate Widely


URGENT: Callout for donations to the Barriere Lake Legal Defense Fund,
Help the Algonquins of Barriere Lake Protect Their Land and Way of Life!


Online version of this message:
http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/2013/03/urgent-callout-for-donations-to.html



Since August 2012, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have been in a court
case against Resolute Forestry and the Quebec Ministry of Natural
Resources. In July, Barriere Lake community members maintained a presence
at the Poigan Bay logging site for three weeks to protect the land and
demand that Quebec restrict forestry to protect the land for future
generations. While Quebec agreed to meet and attempt to address community
needs in forestry practices, Resolute filed an injunction in July against
a group of Algonquins blockading logging operations at Poigan, several of
whom were criminalized for these actions. The injunction affects all
Algonquins who used the land and prevents community monitoring of
forestry. It has allowed the Quebec government to avoid taking measures to
address community needs around forestry. It has resulted in the
destruction of community significant sites, historic sites, sacred sites,
and ecologically sensitive sites, places vital to sustaining Algonquin
language and culture.

The injunction case is at a critical point. The Algonquins of Barriere
Lake currently do not have the funds to proceed, and need to raise a
substantial amount of legal fees by Thursday March 14th to go ahead with
the case. Resolute and the Crown have been able to push a definition of
consultation that ignores native land use and that does not require the
free, prior and informed consent of the community. At the same time, the
community is facing the threat of mining exploration on their traditional
territory by Copper One.


We are calling on supporters to donate generously to ensure the community
has enough resources to proceed and fight this injunction, or to at least
minimize the damage Resolute and the Quebec government have already
caused.

Any amount is appreciated. Please make generous donations to Barriere Lake
Legal Fund through our PayPal at: http://bit.ly/pZYwht


For more information, please contact:
barrierelakesolidarity at gmail.com
or m_wawatie at hotmail.com