Canada

At Fairy Creek, Indigenous-settler Allyships Are Complicated

June 14, 2021 Brandi Morin, Ricochet Media. Strategize! Canada, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Timber Industry

Roots of collaboration grown at battle for old growth could strengthen fight against colonization. As the sun rises over the mountains where the soaring trees grow in the ancient Fairy Creek forest, Sage Jackson, 23, quietly tends to a sacred fire lit two weeks earlier. She travelled from her home in Chilliwack, B.C., in late May with the aim of staying for three days. But that changed when she saw the beauty and depth of the last-of-their-kind forests near the shores of Port Renfrew on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. “I want true reconciliation. Money and reparations don’t mean much to us when we’ve lost so much of our languages, our culture, our Elders, our healers and our children.” The threat of logging and damage to irreplaceable ecosystems has been a call to action for thousands, who have set up camps to stop forestry company Teal-Jones from building a logging road and harvesting old-growth trees.

Venezuela Conference Another Example Of Liberal Hypocrisy

June 14, 2021 Yves Engler, YvesEngler.com Educate! Canada, Foreign Relations, Imperialism, Venezuela

Was it conscious? Did someone at Global Affairs say, ‘we should organize a lofty sounding conference that’s a cover for our pro-US and corporate policy on the anniversary of the international community rejecting Trudeau’s liberal imperialism’? On the one-year anniversary of Canada’s defeat in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council the Trudeau government is hosting an International Donors’ Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants. While it may sound like a humanitarian endeavor, it’s the latest phase in Canada’s multipronged effort to overthrow Nicolás Maduro’s government, which has included plotting with the opposition to anoint an alternative president. A number of opponents of the Venezuelan government will participate in the conference.

‘Monumental Steps’ On Protecting Old Growth Forests

June 12, 2021 Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee. Resist! Canada, climate crisis, Forests, Timber Industry

The British Columbia cabinet has agreed to defer the logging of 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest in the Fairy Creek watershed and the Central Walbran Valley, Premier John Horgan announced Wednesday. The two-year deferrals fulfil a request made by the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations, but are unlikely to satisfy people who have been blocking logging activity in the area between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan on southern Vancouver Island. “These are monumental steps,” Horgan said. “I know it appears at the moment to be just another announcement by another premier, but these announcements are transformative for an industry that has been foundational to British Columbia’s success and will be foundational to our future success, but it has to be done in a different way.”

Old Growth Protected In Fairy Creek

June 9, 2021 Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee. Resist! Canada, climate crisis, Forests, Indigenous Rights

Three First Nations on southern Vancouver Island released a statement today saying they are taking back decision-making responsibilities for their traditional territories. They have also formally given the British Columbia government notice they want to defer old-growth logging in the Fairy Creek watershed and Central Walbran Valley for two years and have repeated a request for everyone to respect their authority, including people who have been blocking logging and related activity. “Since time immemorial, Huu-ay-aht Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations have been stewards of the forest, fisheries and all resources within their ḥahahuułi (traditional territories),” said the statement. “For more than 150 years they have watched as others decided what was best for their lands, water and people. This declaration brings this practice to an immediate end.”

Trans Mountain Insurer To Cut Ties With The Pipeline Company

June 7, 2021 Friends of the Earth. Resist! Canada, climate crisis, Environment, Trans Mountain Pipeline

Trans Mountain insurer and Lloyd’s of London syndicate Argo Group has pledged to cut ties with the existing Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline when its current insurance policy expires on August 31, 2021, and to not insure the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. Following the Canadian authorities’ decision to hide the project’s insurance backers from public scrutiny, Argo is the first insurer to drop the pipeline in this year’s round of policy renewals, joining more than ten insurance companies that have vowed not to touch Trans Mountain. In an email to Public Citizen, Argo stated: “We currently insure the Trans Mountain pipeline, but do not intend to renew it when the policy expires in August 2021. This type of project is not currently within Argo’s risk appetite.”

Canadian Union Pushes For A Greener, Better Postal Service

June 2, 2021 Derek Seidman, Labor Notes. Create! Canada, Green New Deal, Postal Banking, Postal Workers

With its contracts expiring in 2022, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is stepping up the fight for its own vision of the post office of the future. It’s a model for exactly the kind of Green New Deal campaign that U.S. unions should be launching now for a post-Covid economic recovery. For several years, CUPW and its allies have proposed a visionary plan called Delivering Community Power. It advances a big but simple idea: take Canada Post, an institution that’s already publicly owned and embedded in communities, and reinvent it to drive a just transition into a post-carbon economy. The post office would help to jump-start green vehicle production and infrastructure; it would provide free Internet access for all; it would create a nationwide system of public banking.

Seneca Nation Statement On Discovery Of Indigenous Children’s Remains

June 2, 2021 Seneca Nation of Indians, Indian County Today. Educate! American genocide, Canada, Indigenous Sovereignty, Residential Schools

Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels issued the following statement regarding the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, Canada. The school, which operated between 1890 and 1969, was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school, which hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were forced to attend. Thousands of children are known to have died at these schools in the United States and Canada, and it is believed that the deaths of hundreds – if not thousands – were never documented. “Senecas are grieving along with the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in the wake of this recent discovery - another gruesome reminder of the treatment and terror that generations of Indigenous people suffered at the hands of foreign settlers on our own lands.

Sit-In To Mourn 215 Children Buried At Residential School

June 2, 2021 Dilshad Burman, Toronto City News. Resist! American genocide, Canada, Indigenous Peoples, Residential Schools

Toronto, Canada - A small group of people rallied Monday in front of the statue of Egerton Ryerson on the Ryerson University campus to stage a sit-in mourning the 215 children found buried at the Kamloops Indigenous Residential School last week. In an Instagram post, a group called X University, Indigenous Students fighting for social justice & human rights, (@wreckonciliation_x_university) said “we will be occupying the space until we meet 215 pairs of shoes.” The group has adopted ‘X University’ in place of Ryerson University’s current name in protest and to demand it be changed given Ryerson’s role in designing the model for residential schools. Those gathered were seen forming a circle around a drummer who was singing.

Kamloops discovery prompts call for framework to investigate mass graves

June 1, 2021 Simon Little, GlobalNews.ca Create! Canada, Indigenous Rights, Mass Graves, Residential Schools

The discovery of a mass grave at a former Kamloops residential school highlights the need for a formal, legal and human rights framework to investigate similar sites in Canada, says a B.C. legal scholar and advocate. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond heads the University of British Columbia’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, and formerly served as the province’s advocate for children and youth. “A mass grave is a crime scene, it is not a historic site or a heritage site,” Turpel-Lafond told Global News. “It is well and past the time that Canada and provinces, they need to stop treating the finding of human remains of Indigenous people as sort of a heritage issue.” The Kamloops Indian Residential School is but one of many where Turpel-Lafond says Indigenous people have reported children disappearing, but have been given little or no state support to investigate.

Railroad Blockaded In Solidarity With Palestine

June 1, 2021 It's Going Down. Resist! Blockade, Canada, Israel, Palestine

Coastal Cities Vow To ‘Block The Boat.’ For several hours on Sunday, May 30th, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists blockaded the

Nestlé Workers Demand Equal Pay For Equal Work

May 25, 2021 Ysh Cabana, Canadian Dimension. Resist! Canada, Labor Unions, Nestle, Worker Rights

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, workers at the Nestlé manufacturing plant in Toronto’s west end are facing unfair conditions including part-time pay, pension cuts and precarious employment, and management is unwilling to negotiate a reasonable contract with its employees. As of May 19, more than 470 workers are on indefinite strike. Workers at the factory, which produces Kit Kat bars and is the the only manufacturer of Coffee Crisp in the world, started their picket line on May Day 2021. Long-term disputes around the security of permanent employment and a defined benefit pension plan have previously disrupted production at the facility. Negotiations toward a new contract fell through over the central issue of a “tiered” workforce, which is being used by the company to deny employees equal pay for equal work, according to Unifor Local 252, the union representing chocolate production and skilled trades workers.

Workers At Steel Giant ArcelorMittal Go On Strike

May 24, 2021 Hugo Maltais, WSWS. Resist! Canada, Labor Unions, Steelworkers, Worker Rights

Canada - In northeastern Quebec, 2,500 ArcelorMittal workers have been on strike since May 10. The strikers, who work in mines, port facilities, rail lines and offices belonging to the Luxembourg-based multinational, are represented by five locals of the United Steelworkers (USW/ Métallos ) and are affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL), the largest labour organization in Quebec with more than 600,000 members. The strike follows workers’ unequivocal rejection of ArcelorMittal’s “final and comprehensive” offer. Workers voted against the company’s May 7 offer by percentages ranging from 97 percent to 99 percent. Union bargaining committees had recommended that the offer be rejected.

Groups Condemn Police Actions At Fairy Creek

May 24, 2021 British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. Resist! Canada, Media, Police abuse, Timber Industry

Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – May 21, 2021: The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) has written to the provincial government and RCMP Commissioner condemning the arbitrary and unlawful RCMP Exclusion Zone in unceded Ditidaht territory. The RCMP have established two checkpoints and roadblocks along the McClure Main and Caycuse Main roads near the Fairy Creek blockade against old-growth logging. In an open letter to Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, the BCCLA notes that the RCMP’s actions are overbroad in scope and constitute an inconsistent, arbitrary, and illegal exercise of police discretion to block members of the public, including legal observers and the media, from accessing the area.

Police arrest seven protesters at logging blockade

May 19, 2021 Dirk Meissner, CBC Resist! Canada, Environment, Logging, Protests

Police have arrested seven people at a logging blockade on southern Vancouver Island as they enforced an injunction Tuesday. The RCMP promised "police action'' earlier this week after announcing it is temporarily controlling access to an area around the Caycuse River south of Cowichan Lake, enforcing the April 1 injunction that allows Teal-Cedar Products to start logging activities.

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