[van-announce] Mohawk Eastern Society Film: INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE AT GRASSY NARROWS

[Stefan Christoff]

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE AT GRASSY NARROWS
A Film Produced by the Mohawk Eastern Society of Kahnawkake
On the Blockades Against Abitibi Consolidated in Grassy Narrows

A film produced by the Mohawk Eastern Society of Kahnawake about the
ongoing indigenous blockades at Grassy Narrows. The film was produced this
winter when a delegation from Montreal & Kahnawake traveled to Grassy
Narrows to show their solidarity with the blockades. The delegation was
composed of members of the International Solidarity Movement, Solidarity
for Palestinian Human Rights, the Mohawk Eastern Society and the No One is
Illegal Campaign of Montreal.

The Ojibway community living at Grassy Narrows in North Western Ontario
are currently engaged in actions to resist the clear cutting of Native
land. Their environment has been poisoned by pesticides and other
chemicals in the land and water by Abitibi Consolidated and the Canadian
Government. This film provides a clear perspective of the ongoing struggle
at Grassy Narrows to cease the destruction of native land and to fight for
the sovereignty of indigenous peoples.

To view the film visit the links below:

-> Part 1:
http://www.montreal.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8279&group=webcast

-> Part 2:
http://www.montreal.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8354&group=webcast

-> Part 3:
http://www.montreal.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8355&group=webcast

To get more information about the Grassy Narrows blockades visit:
http://www.thunderbay.indymedia.org

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{Below is a recent front page story from the Kenora Daily Miner News,
Kenora is the nearest town to Grassy Narrows about the Grassy Narrows
blockades against Abitibi Consolidated Ltd. To get updates about the
ongoing situation at Grassy Narrows and ways in which you can support
please email nooneisillegal at tao.ca}

Front Page Story Tuesday June 10th / Kenora Daily Miner News

Company to mull over blockade this week / By Jorge Barrera

Abitibi Consolidated Ltd. will begin deciding this week what it will do in
response to a Grassy Narrows band blockade blocking access to a wood
harvest in the Whisky Jack Forest.

"The wood we'd be expecting from that operation is not coming," said
Charlotte Caron, a spokeswoman for Abitibi Consolidated Ltd. "I would
expect we'll be looking at (the situation this) week, but when a decision
will be made is hard to speculate on."

The band threw up a blockade last Wednesday in response to renewed logging
near their community.

The contractor, Ambs Forest Products, had been working the area, said
Caron. They left their equipment on site and planned to take a few days
off.

"(The blockade) directly affects the contractor, his (15) employees and
sub-contractors," she said last Friday.

Abitibi contractors found ways to keep the wood moving during previous
blockades, but this time the band blocked the only access in, said Caron.

''I don't know what we're going to do (yet). We don't know what the
blockade is going to do and we haven't been contacted by them,'' she said.
''We'd like to see a resolution. We're still more than willing to sit down
and talk with government and the people from Grassy Narrows.''

Caron said recent attempts to set up talks with the band have fallen
through.

"Locally, the Ministry of Natural Resources has attempted to meet with the
chief of Grassy Narrows, but to no avail that I'm aware of," she said.

The band claims the 1.1 million hectares Whisky Jack Forest as traditional
territory and started blockading a nearby logging road in December to
disrupt logging routes into the area.

Logs from the Whisky Jack forest are trucked to the Abitibi paper mill in
Kenora, which employs around 380 people.

The paper mill has been in operation since 1924. Abitibi took over the
mill in 1997.