[Iswg3906.organizers] AGM Report

[Peter Hopperton]

Yeah! Email lists! I told the Resist collective we'd likely be able to kick them down a donation for the two lists, so maybe we can put that on the agenda for the next meeting. I propose $100 as a good dose of mutual aid.

Tony, thanks for writing up this report. I haven't seen past reports from working groups, but I could see value in getting into more detail about the visioning we've done. I think that work is very important and represents real capacity building -- our ability to clearly communicate about our intentions and priorities is vital for attracting new members and building trust with our allies. 

Also, the ISWG organized the reportback from Amanda, which attracted 50 people. We could also be more specific about the kinds of educational and training opportunities we are hoping to create for ourselves and the communities -- perhaps the decolonization workshop Tarek hosted before his show and that ISWG supported could be one example of our efforts to support inserting this dialogue into the broader community? 

Thanks again Tony. Since I'm sending a whole pile of suggestions at you, if you'd like any help revising it, I'd be glad to spend some time.

-peter

Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:43:05 -0400
From: iswg3906 at gmail.com
To: iswg3906.organizers at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [Iswg3906.organizers] AGM Report

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.  


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