[IPSM] Reportback from Demo against Niocan AGM

[shelly]

* Knock Out Niocan! *



 On Thursday May 18th, 2006 Montreal indigenous solidarity activists gathered to confront the annual shareholders meeting of Niocan Inc., a mining company currently awaiting a certificate of authorization to begin the construction of a niobium mine on unceded Mohawk territory, near the community of Kanehsatake..


Four protesters were able to infiltrate the meeting and insert an IPSM pamphlet ("Niocan Shareholders Beware", below) into the Niocan final report being distributed to shareholders. Meanwhile, outside of the AGM, others spread out in front of the access doors and handed pamphlets out in person. Chants such as "Niocan, you can't hide, we will fight your genocide!" resounded off the surrounding office buildings. Several protesters took turns on the megaphone to inform passers-by and the media about the issues of environmental racism, and indigenous land rights involved. 

 

According to documents obtained from the meeting, Niocan shares have been on a general decline since 2003, and have dropped nearly 50% in the past year, to $0.46. By the end of the meeting, shareholders were visible agitated. As shareholders exited the building, one protester asked "Did you enjoy meeting to plan the destruction of other peoples' communities?" To which a well-suited, previous composed woman shouted: "SHUT UP!" Obviously, a moment to cherish....


 Another shareholder nearly jumped out of his pants when another protester noticed him and said: "Hey, he's Niocan!" Head down, this gentleman (sic) scurried down the street as fast as his fancy business shoes would carry him on the rain soaked pavement.

 

Of course, the enforcers of the colonial order also made a presence. They asked the usual question - "Who's your leader?" - and tried to figure out where our "orders" might be coming from. So incapable of understanding individual initiative and collective responsibility are they...


When they couldn't bully people into giving names or obeying their orders to "stay off the road" or "keep moving", one officer decided to get physically intimidating. He followed one woman with a megaphone in his car so close it was nearly touching her. When this intimidation didn't work, he aggressively hit a different protester with his car! The cops left the scene shortly thereafter. To serve and protect whom, eh?


All in all, it was a successful demo, and we hope shareholders will think twice about their "investment". 

 

For more information about the Knock Out Niocan campaign, and other indigenous solidarity initiatives, contact the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement by e-mail at [ipsm AT resist DOT ca] or by calling 
514-848-7585.

 Below is the pamphlet distributed to Niocan shareholders:




 * Niocan Shareholders Beware! *

 In Niocan's 2005 Annual Report you were assured - "Niocan will minimize risks by targeting developments in regions that are politically stable". Section 4.11 then goes on to say there are "no 
 native land claims currently associated with any property held by the company." Each member of the Board, and the President & CEO, Bernard Coulombe all signed on to what is written in this document.

 Unfortunately for you, the myth of political stability is over!

 Have you heard about the Henning brothers of Henco Inc.? And how their multi-million dollar real estate development, the "Douglas Creek Estates", has been reclaimed by the Six Nations Peoples of the 
 Haudenosaunee Confederacy?

 The Henning brothers are on the verge of bankruptcy because they colluded with Canada and the province of Ontario to rob from, and permanently alter, the Haudenosaunee Peoples' enjoyment of their 
 traditional territories.

 The Six Nations Band Council was quoted as saying there was no recognized land claim involved. For the traditional people of the Confederacy, this does not matter. There are thousands of outstanding land claims across Canada that at the current rate would take centuries to resolve. The uselessness and prohibitive costs of these official processes has inevitable lead to mounting frustration.

 The Henning brothers purchased the land, conducted all necessary studies, got licenses, certificates, and even a court injunction to remove the "occupiers"; but it doesn't matter. The project will never be completed.

 The Henning brothers, like Niocan, bought stolen property. The entire land upon which the municipality of Oka sits is Kanien'kehaka territory. The Kanien'kehaka are part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy 
 and have the same "color of right" to protect their land while our government illegally grants third-party interests' access to it.


The peoples defending their land during the Oka Crisis were found not guilty. Neither the municipality of Oka nor the province of Quebec owns the land by virtue of conquest, sale or surrender. The community 
 of Kanehsatake has clearly stated - this destructive project will not be tolerated. As Grand Chief, Steve Bonspille, said: "If we exhaust the legal avenues, we'll find avenues of protests, like demonstrations, slowing down traffic, and symbolic blockades."

 The corrosive, transcontinental 200-year-old legal and physical blockade and siege by the Crown and its settlers of entire Onkwehonwe societies and their people, governments, economies, legal systems,  territories and resources is still under way. Despite Canada's many commission reports and court judgments that recognize the Indigenous Peoples' rights to their land.

 There is no "safety" in investing in colonialism any more.


Consider this a heads-up. If and when Niocan moves into the construction phase of this mine, you will see the myth of political stability crumble.

 Last May 16th the BAPE report stated: "the commission learned through the public consultation process that the land on which the mine is located is subject to claims... [and] most public consultation participants are very concerned about the mining project, to which they did not consent." There will be no divide and conquer in this coming crisis. A $14 million agricultural industry is also at stake here.

 Investing in developments on stolen native lands does have a price - a moral price, and the financial price Henco Inc is currently facing. The decolonization movement is growing and coast-to-coast; rest assured the people will rise up, without compromise, in solidarity with Kanehsatake!

 * Refuse Niocan! Resist Environmental Racism! Reject Canadian Colonialism! *
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