[Iswg3906.organizers] AGM Report

[Indigenous Solidarity Working Group]

Hey folks:

I don't have a super amount of time this week-end so I did the best I could
with our agm report. Comments, questions, insights or additions are
welcome.

FYI: This email should have come from our functional organizer's list serv.
Thanks Pete! You can send an email to the list by using the address
iswg3906.organizers at lists.resist.ca.

Can you please respond to this email so I know you received it and the list
is working okay?

Thanks,

Tony
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>From its inception in 2012 the indigenous solidarity working group has
devoted its efforts to strengthening relationships with our allies and
working with our allies to educate 3906 members and our community members
about the issues facing indigenous communities in Canada. To that end, we
have supported numerous nations in their efforts to have their grievances
resolved by the Canadian state. This is seen, for example, in our efforts
to support one of the longest land reclamation efforts in Canada, the Six
Nations' reclamation of Kanonhstaton. But our work has also seen our group
participate in several organizational efforts in support of communities
such as Aamjiwnaang, an Ojibwe nation near Sarnia currently engaged with
Enbridge over their Line 9 reversal proposal, as well as the community
of Unist'ot'en
from the Wet'suwet'en nation in British Columbia currently engaged in
efforts to prevent pipeline development in their territories.

Closer to campus, we have established excellent connections between 3906
and the McMaster First Nations University Association. Not only did we
provide financial support for MUFNSA's annual pow wow on campus, but
members of the working group have been present at numerous Idle No More
demonstrations and workshops organized by MUFNSA. We have also spent a
great deal of time on visioning our group, trying to define what kind of
work we believe the group should do and how we should go about doing it. We
believe this work is important not only in terms of how we undertake the
solidarity work we currently do, but also to ensure this work continues
into the future when perhaps the current working group membership is no
longer involved.

We have many exciting, upcoming opportunities where we will continue to
realize our mission of supporting indigenous struggles and educating our
members and non-unionized community members about indigenous struggles. Our
plans for the last quarter of this budget year include the planning and
implementation of decolonising workshops. These are educational
opportunities our group will organize for 3906 members and our various
community partners that will give participants an opportunity to read and
discuss literature relevant to the ongoing and complex work of decolonising
this country. We will also continue providing our logistical support to
allies during the numerous struggles sure to arise over the course of the
summer in regards to Line 9 organizing, a project our allies have deemed of
high priority.

Our working group will do this important work throughout the summer by
continuing to meet on a bi-weekly basis. We look forward to engaging
allies, community members, and 3906 members in order to encourage their
involvement with our group as we continue our efforts.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/iswg3906.organizers/attachments/20130331/ae7163c0/attachment.html>