Fwd: [IPSM] Grassy Narrows article in the McGill Daily

[lcarle at po-box.mcgill.ca]

Hello all.  The article below is about the people I went to see speak last
sunday evening at the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal.  They are engaged
in a really solid non-violent blockade of their land against clearcut logging by
Montreal-based Abitibi Consolidated.  If you want to write them a letter, use
contact at abitibiconsolidated.com.   The most shocking things, to me, were:

a) that clearcutting is actually directly linked to mercury poisoning, causing
fatal neurological disorders in people who live off the land, for example by
eating fresh fish form a river or lake, which should be a healthy thing to do,
and which is an essential part of the Grassy Narrows economy and culture along
with thousands of communities like it. For details see:

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0303001.pdf
Most comprehensive, see especially pdf pg. 21 (Pg. 3) and following:  "Once in
sediments of streams and lakes, bacteria can take up the deposited mercury, and
change it chemically to the organic form (methylmercury), which does not readily
leave the bacteria."

With clearcutting, the soil heats up and speeds this
bacterial metabolization--see "Degassing and Erosion from Mineral Deposits and
Mercury-enriched Soils":  "Vegetation and shade are likely to reduce emission
rates, perhaps by as much as 90 percent (Zehner, 2002)" pg. 9-10. "Gustin et al.
(2000) consider land surfaces to be enriched when their mercury concentrations
exceed 0.1 mg/Kg, noting that the average abundance of mercury in the earth’s
upper crust is ~0.06 mg/Kg."  "One area of potential mercury enrichment is the
upper Nooksack River Basin.  Babcock and Kolby (1973) measured mercury in
stream sediments and reported elevated concentrations (up to 0.84 mg/Kg) from
Boulder Creek in the North Fork drainage. Falley (1974) found mercury-enriched
sediments of several tributaries of the North and Middle forks, with the
highest – 8 mg/Kg – in Clearcut Creek on the Middle Fork" pg. 10.

See also pg. 6 for a table of sources of mercury in the environment.

http://www.einap.org/envdis/Minamata.html
(article about medical effects of mercury poisoning)

http://www.climateark.org/articles/reader.asp?
http://www.flcv.com/tm98.html
http://www.mbeconetwork.org/archives/Eco-Journal14(5).pdf

b) that Abitibi sprays the Anishinabe forests using airplanes without the
community's consent, and forcing people out of the woods to avoid being
poisoned.  The sprays kill everything except lucrative trees like spruce and
pine, reflecting that "Abitibi-Consolidated's values are centred around a
strong commitment to the protection and enhancement of the natural resources in
our care," and that their "Sustainable Forest Management, or SFM, maintains and
enhances the long-term health of forest ecosystems while providing ecological,
economic, social and cultural opportunities for the benefit of present and
future generations."
(http://www.abitibiconsolidated.com/ACIWebSiteV3.nsf/Site/en/forest/index.html)
(http://www.abitibiconsolidated.com/aciwebsitev3.nsf/site/en/forest/forest-management.html)

The people i heard told a story of two old ladies who were just out picking
blueberries, and a company "representative" came and told them they had to
leave.  They had to walk several kilometres to get back out of the woods and
tell everyone what had happened, and the company people wouldn't even drive
them.  who'd want to get in the truck with them anyway?!  They also said that
the birch trees being killed by the sprays are highly symbolic in Anishinabe
religion.  To my mind, these actions are conveniently yet clearly genocidal.
Not only that, it affects all of us, especially if we value the beauty and
health of the land which surrounds us and which we depend on for life.  The
really sad part is that this is not an isolated or unusual case.  It is the
norm throughout Native communities in this continent to be forced out of their
way of life in this way.  Our way of life is not worth it, and we have much to
gain by changing.

It is our responsibility as consumers, not to mention as decent human beings, to
know about these things and avoid buying from the companies that do them and
voting for politicians that back them up.  Please think and pray about it.

love yas,
Loren

 Subject: [IPSM] Grassy Narrows article in the McGill Daily
      To: ipsm-l at lists.resist.ca

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

---

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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