[IPSM] Grassy Narrows article in the McGill Daily

[antoine libert]

Below is an article published by the McGill Daily about Grassy Narrows and 
their recent visit to Montreal. Also in this issue of the Daily is an 
article about the proposed Niocan mine on Kanehsatake lands, as part of a 
series of articles on First Nations (to be found at: 
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=3823)
Cheers

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Ojibways maintain two-year blockade against Montreal-based logging company
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=3824

By Simon Hodges
The McGill Daily

The people of the Grassy Narrows Ojibway reserve in northern Ontario have
been using blockades since December 2002 in an attempt to keep Abitibi, a
Montreal-based logging company, out of their community. Now, they are
taking their struggle on a tour throughout southern Ontario and Quebec.

According to Macho Philipovitch, a member of the advocacy group Friends of
Grassy Narrows, accountability for the logging has been transferred back
and forth between different levels of government. He said that the Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) gave Abitibi permission to log, but
constantly foists blame onto the federal Department of Indian and Northern
Affairs, which in turn sends frustrated community members back to the
OMNR.

Chrissy Swain, a member of the Grassy Narrows community, said that she has
participated in the blockade against logging in order to save her
traditional way of life and take a stand against the injustice she has
experienced.

“I remember an elder once told me that my healing journey should start
with myself, my family, my community, and then our nation. I never
understood that until the day my sister, another young man, and I went to
lay logs over the road [as part of the blockade]. We did it because we
were sick and tired of watching our lives slowly disappear.”

The blockade began in 2002 when community members barred access to logging
roads using tree trunks.

“Since that day, no logging trucks have travelled over the road. When
forest activity has picked up, community members have organized roving
blockades on the other access roads in the area, which last for a few days
at a time,” said Philipovitch, who asserted that actions have remained
non-violent.

Judy DaSilva, a resident of Grassy Narrows, said in a statement that
Abitibi’s logging would destroy the already endangered culture and
lifestyle of the community’s residents.

“The Grassy Narrows Abnishnabek [Ojibway] are clinging to the last shreds
of their culture. The clear-cutting plans will not only destroy community
aesthetics, but will also eliminate trapping and hunting, an important
tradition, [source of] income, and food supply for many community
residents.”

Philipovitch argued that the logging attempt by Abitibi is the latest
development in 100 years of mistreatment by the government and
corporations.

“The community has been under attack by the Canadian government and
corporate sector for the last 100-odd years. They have had their children
forced into residential schools, they have twice had their community
relocated, they have seen their traditional wild rice harvest forced open
to ‘free’ market forces. Perhaps most devastatingly, their waterways have
been poisoned by methyl-mercury dumped into the river upstream by a pulp
and paper mill in Dryden, Ontario,” he said.

Members of the Grassy Narrows community and The Indigenous Peoples’
Solidarity Movement held a Montreal protest in Dominion Square on Monday
to protest logging by Montreal’s Abitibi Consolidated Inc.

Abitibi did not return The Daily’s requests for an interview.

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