[Indigsol] Followup from Honour Your Word on April 22

Thu May 1 17:31:44 PDT 2014

We'd like to thank everyone who was able to be a part of our Earth Day
event with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake!!

It was inspiring and successful on a number of levels, including that we
were collectively able to raise over $2500 (net, after expenses) for
Barriere Lake. It was great for them to see in person the support they have
from the community here in Ottawa!

You can see photos at: www.bitly.com/1ifUchg

Thanks also to the organizational co-sponsors and supporters:
OPIRG-Ottawa -- OPIRG-Carleton -- MiningWatch Canada -- OSSTF District 25
Human Rights / Status of Women Committee -- Students Against Israeli
Apartheid Carleton (SAIA)

Here are the four 'action items' from the event
(if you're receiving this, you probably don't need to do the third)

   - Sign on to the letter to the Quebec premier

   <http://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/tell-the-quebec-premier-stop-clear-cutting-barriere-lake-s-lands-and-honour-a-landmark-agreement>
   - Make a financial donation

   <https://www.paypal.com/ca/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=VmYPUU3qVe2JwJDJywQvPo13HW4M4lL_rhmja17x8XB6D2lw0WTQVgZ9RfC&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8db315373d882600b51a5edf961ea39639>
   - Please sign up for future notices, via our email listservs:
   IndigSol (IPSM-Ottawa
newsletter)<https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/indigsol>-&-
   BarriereLake-Announce

   <https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#%21forum/barrierelake-announce/join>
   - Come see about getting involved:
   Open meeting for the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa
   Sun May 4th, 2pm at Jack Purcell Community Centre
   Info: http://on.fb.me/RLrY35 or http://wp.me/pmnsY-PU

One of the people who attended the event on April 22 was local Algonquin
Elder Albert Dumont. He wrote up some thoughts based on seeing the film and
hearing the story from Barriere Lake.

*Note: this piece of writing, and the list of resource lnks at the bottom,
is also posted online, at:
http://ipsmo.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/honour-your-word/
<http://ipsmo.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/honour-your-word/>*

*"Honour Your Word"*
*by Albert 'South Wind' Dumont*

The documentary “Honour Your Word” to me, is a call for Canada’s citizens
to go on the march in defence of the sacredness Canadians claim to place on
the threads which connect the hearts and souls of all the good people who
populate this great land. Watch the film and if, after doing so, you are
not motivated to help make things right in La Verendrye Park where justice
has been drawn, quartered and burned at the stake, then you are as
spiritless as the perpetrators of the human rights violations taking place
there today. The Algonquins of Barriere Lake are standing alone against
tyranny and oppression. They are a brave resourceful people living in Third
World poverty whose plight is documented in a film produced and directed by
Martha Stiegman.

Where is the mirror that would show Canadians what really is looking back
at them when they peer into it? It does exist, but most of us (Canadians)
will have to wait until death carries them to a new world to see it. The
ugliness of their ways will be revealed and an accounting of some kind will
surely come to pass at that time.

We, the First Peoples, live in a world where only the human rights
violations directly impacting settlers or injustices being perpetrated
against people in far off countries like China or the Middle East are
worthy of Canadians’ support and sympathy. When human rights violations are
occurring against the Aboriginal People of this land, Canadians turn a
blind eye and a deaf ear to it. Canadians need to ask themselves why this
is so. To me, the answer begins and ends with ‘greed’.

“Honour”, the real definition of that word does not exist in our
Parliaments only because Canadians do not demand it as a trait alive and
strong, in the men and women we send to the Red Chamber to represent us
before the world and before God. We must ask ourselves how our children and
their children will be impacted by our negligence of duty to them when we
do such a thing. Surely we doom them (our children) to a world where dog
eats dog, where the weak are spat upon and where peaceful protest is
laughed at and ignored.

The film is interesting throughout but several powerful scenes stand out to
me as highlights. One scene is particularly moving, it shows a young
Barriere Lake Algonquin man standing before the camera telling about what
is being lost of his beloved land when clear-cutting occurs. His words are
strong and heartfelt, he is overcome with emotion and though weeping almost
uncontrollably, he finishes his statement. I wept with him while sitting in
the darkness of the theatre and cannot banish the scene from my mind. It
will be my inspiration and motivation to get involved and help with this
cause in whatever way the Algonquins ask of me.

One thing the film makes clear to me at least, is that the peaceful protest
of the Algonquins up to this point, is nothing more than an exercise in
pointless frustration. They protest peacefully to protect the trees and
their way of life. Their leaders are thrown in jail when they do so. “Next
time you will not be jailed for short periods of time but for years,” they
are warned by the courts. Knowledge of such injustices and oppression makes
my heart sick.

What is happening in La Verendrye Park is proof positive of just how racist
a country Canada is. Only a people who are capable of raw, unadulterated
hatred against a segment of the community not their own would allow what is
happening to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake to occur in a country like
Canada. God help us.

Keep the Circle Strong,
South Wind.

*Albert Dumont, “South Wind”, is a Poet, Storyteller, Speaker, and an
Algonquin Traditional Teacher. He was born and raised in traditional
Algonquin territory (Kitigan Zibi). He has been walking the “Red Road”
since commencing his sobriety in 1988. He has published four books of
poetry and short stories and one children’s book, written in three
languages. His website is www.albertdumont.com
<http://www.albertdumont.com>*

—-

Resources for Barriere Lake:

   - www.BarriereLakeSolidarity.org <http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/>
   - IPSMO webpage on Mitchikanibikok Inik (The Algonquins of Barriere
Lake)<http://ipsmo.wordpress.com/mitchikanibikok-inik/>
   - Pamphlet (1-pg doublesided PDF): English
version<http://ipsmo.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/barriere-lake-flyer-nov-13.pdf>–
version
   Francais<http://ipsmo.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/barriere-lake-flyer-nov-13fr.pdf>
   - Youtube playlist (10
videos)<http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEE8591A0D8B2E1FA>from
IPSMO’s channel
   - PhD thesis from Shiri Pasternak (2013, 305pgs):
   “On Jurisdiction and Settler Colonialism: The Algonquins of Barriere
   Lake Against the Federal Land Claims
Policy<http://shiripasternak.com/Pasternak_Shiri_S_201309_PhD_thesis.pdf>
   “
   - First Nations Strategic Bulletin (2006):
   “The Algonquins of Barriere Lake: Against All Odds” (pgs 1-7) &
   “Algonquins of Barriere Lake v. Minister of Indian Affairs” (pgs
8-13)<http://www.turtleisland.org/resources/ablbg06.pdf>
   - Film – Blockade: Algonquins Defend The
Forest<http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=18423>(1990,
26min)
   - Barriere Lake Solidarity (Facebook
page)<https://www.facebook.com/BarriereLakeSolidarity>

More about the film:

   - Film website: www.honouryourword-film.ca
   - Report from Montreal
Premiere<http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/2014/03/honour-your-word-premiere-of-barriere.html>
   - Photos from Ottawa Earth Day
screening<https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.864026883614237.1073741828.116217665061833&type=3>
   - Audio interview with filmmaker Martha
Stiegman<https://soundcloud.com/ipsmo/martha-stiegman-honour-your>(from
CHUO radio show “Click
   Here <http://chuo.fm/show/click-here/>“)
   - Film trailer <http://vimeo.com/71470916>
   - Order the film from Diffusion
Multi-Monde<http://www.diffusionmultimonde.com/>
   - The film is on Cinema Politica’s
catalogue<http://www.cinemapolitica.org/film/honour-your-word>,
   so you can check if your local Cinema Politica
group<http://www.cinemapolitica.org/locals/all>wants to organize a
screening

~ ~ ~ ~
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa
http://ipsmo.org
https://facebook.com/ipsmo
http://youtube.com/ipsmo
http://bit.ly/indigsol (newsletter)
~ ~ ~ ~
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