First Nations

Lakota Warriors Vow ‘Dead or in Prison Before We Allow’ Pipeline

March 15, 2014 Camila Ibanez, www.alternet.org Resist! First Nations, Keystone, Tar Sands, TransCanada

The Oglala Lakota Nation is actively fighting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This 1,700-mile pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil each day from western Canada through South Dakota en route to Texas. At two points it would even intersect with a pipeline that serves as a main water source for the Sioux Nation, affecting all of the Pine Ridge reservation as well as the nearby Rosebud reservation. “Dead or in prison before we allow the Keystone XL pipeline to pass,” the Lakota warriors, many mounted atop horses, repeated during the Liberation Day celebration. Their words carried the weight of 521 years, and counting, of lived resistance.

First Nations Begin Fight Against Keystone XL

March 12, 2014 Alfred Walking Bull, www.earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Energy, Environment, First Nations, Keystone XL

With the release of a U.S. State Department environmental impact study of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that reported no significant impact, tribes and environmental groups across the Northern Plains rallied against the project’s advancement. Over the next 90 days, during which, the federal government begins its final review process for approval of the pipeline, an alliance of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes in South Dakota and Nebraska – known as the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires), analogous to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe – have gone on a defensive campaign against TransCanada, the company responsible for the proposed pipeline.

Canadian Government Sees Indigenous Rights as ‘Significant Threat’

March 7, 2014 Martin Lukacs, www.theguardian.com Educate! Canada, First Nations, Idle No More

The Canadian government is increasingly worried that the growing clout of aboriginal peoples’ rights could obstruct its aggressive resource development plans, documents reveal. Since 2008, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has run a risk management program to evaluate and respond to “significant risks” to its agenda, including assertions of treaty rights, the rising expectations of aboriginal peoples, and new legal precedents at odds with the government’s policies.

Omushkegowuk Walkers Arrive In Ottawa After 1,056 Mile Trek

February 25, 2014 Lauren Strapagiel, www.o.canada.com Resist! Canada, First Nations, Indigenous Rights

After 50 days and 1,700 kilometres on foot, a trio of Cree men are now in Ottawa. Danny Metatawabin, Paul Mattinas and Brian Okimaw set out from Attawapiskat, Ont., a First Nation near the shores of James Bay, on Jan. 4. Their goal was to walk to Ottawa and send a reminder along the way to both chiefs and the government to honour the treaties forged between Canada and First Nations. “As in the wisdom of our Elders that continue to remind us of where we should be, and in considering the future aspirations of all of our youth, we are seeking justice, equality and fairness as First Peoples of this country,” said a message from Metatawabin on the Facebook page that has chronicled their journey. They arrived, as scheduled, on Sunday. Today, the group will stopped at the Human Rights monument for a ceremony before continuing on to a rally at Parliament Hill.

Mikmaq Speaking Tour Seeks Solidarity For Anti-Fracking

February 6, 2014 Roger Annis, www.rabble.ca Educate! Canada, Energy, Environment, First Nations, Fracking, Indigenous Rights

It was standing room only in downtown Vancouver on January 24 as 250 people crowded into a meeting room at Simon Fraser University to hear two Mi'kmaq activists describe the ongoing fight in against gas fracking in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick. Suzanne Patles and Coady Stevens are two veterans of the battle that has fought the frackers to a standstill and inspired continent-wide solidarity actions. The January 24 event was the beginning of a lengthy speaking tour that has them speaking across British Columbia and then moving on to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario in the coming weeks. In B.C., they will speak in six cities and First Nations territories. In addition to Vancouver, they will speak in Squamish (Vancouver region), Victoria, Nanaimo, Kamloops (Neskonlith First Nation) and Moricetown (Wet'suwet'en First Nation, in north central B.C.).

Attawapiskat First Nation Members Marching To Ottawa

February 2, 2014 Rick Owen, , www.northernnews.ca Resist! Canada, First Nations, Indigenous Rights

Reclaiming Our Steps Past, Present & Future We, the grassroots People, are walking to Ottawa from the traditional territories of the Omushkegowuk (People) to deliver a message to the leaders of both levels of Government and to our respective Chiefs that the time to honour our Treaties is now! The time to address and reconcile Aboriginal issues is now! The time to work together with the utmost respect on a Nation to Nation basis is now! We are and will continue to be here and we want our rightful place back within this country called Canada. As in the wisdom of our Elders that continue to remind us of where we should be, and in considering the future aspirations of all of our youth, we are seeking justice, equality and fairness as First Peoples of this country.

Neil Young Continues Push For First Nation’ Rights, Environment

January 13, 2014 Brad Wheeler, www.theglobeandmail.com Resist! Energy, First Nations, Fracking, Indigenous Rights, Tar Sands

Neil Young continued his campaign against the environmental policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration. “Our issue is not whether the natural resource sector is a fundamental part of the country,” Young said in press release. “Our issue is with the government breaking treaties with the First Nation and plundering the natural resources the First Nation has rights to under the treaties.” The veteran Canadian-born rocker is currently on a four-city concert tour of Canada. The shows – in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary – benefit Alberta’s Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in its legal battle against the oil industry’s expansion in Northern Alberta. At a press conference held at Massey Hall before Sunday’s sold-out concert, Mr. Young said Canada was “trading integrity for money,” and described the Harper administration’s environmental record as “hypocritical” and an “embarrassment.” On the radio blunt-talking Mr. Young spoke on treaty rights (“It’s up to Canadians to make up their own minds about whether their integrity is threatened by a government that won’t live up to the treaties that the country is founded on”) and clarified remarks made last year when he described oil boom town Fort McMurray as a wasteland. “I know Fort Mac is a town,” he told host Jian Ghomeshi. “It’s occupied by Big Oil. It is an occupation. But what is going on around it, that’s what I was referring to as a wasteland. It is the ugliest environmental disaster that I not only have ever seen, but that I could even comprehend.”

Alberta Tar Sands Facing Aboriginal Legal Onslaught in 2014

January 9, 2014 The Canadian Press, www.cbc.ca Resist! Canada, First Nations, Tar Sands

Simmering disputes over the oilsands between Alberta aboriginals and the provincial and federal governments will break into the open in 2014 as virtually every one of the many recent changes in oversight of the controversial industry comes under legal and political attack. "All litigation, all the time, is what I see on the horizon," said Larry Innes, lawyer for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Over the last 18 months, Ottawa and Edmonton have rewritten the book on resource development. Everything from how aboriginals will be consulted to land use planning to oilsands monitoring to the basic ground rules for environmental assessment has been changed. Governments say the new regime is more efficient, predictable and transparent. Aboriginals say it violates their rights and ignores their recommendations.

MLK’s Daughter Calls for End of Economic Injustice Against First Nations

January 9, 2014 Camille Bains, www.ctvnews.ca Educate! Canada, First Nations, MLK

The daughter of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. says economic injustice must be addressed as part of the reconciliation process with Canada's First Nations. Bernice King said a history of pain and abuse can't be erased with an apology, and money for programs won't undo the suffering that can take generations to overcome. "We still suffer in America, as an African-American community," she told reporters on Saturday, referring to the lingering effects of slavery and oppression. King, 50, said her maternal great-grandmother was part Cherokee and there is Indian ancestry on her father's side as well.

Patent Office: Your ‘Redskins’ Pork Rinds Are Racist, Trademark Denied

January 9, 2014 ICTMN Staff, www.indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com Educate! First Nations

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has deemed the word "Redskin" unfit for protection under trademark laws because it is "disparaging." The case document cites five dictionaries and news sources including MSNBC, the Washington Post, and ICTMN. This is good news, although not the best news, for those who would like to see the Washington NFL franchise change its name. The Patent Office was not, unfortunately, addressing the Redskins football team -- the trademark application had been submitted for a product called "Redskins Hog Rinds." That's right -- the U.S. Patent Office denied a trademark for a "Redskins" brand of pork rinds on grounds that it's a racist term, but the Washington NFL team still retains the trademark on its name.

Stephen Harper Protesters Block Vancouver Island Venue

January 9, 2014 Dirk Meissner, www.huffingtonpost.ca Resist! Canada, Environment, First Nations, Tar Sands

Prime Minister Stephen Harper hiked a historic trail Tuesday with about 50 Scouts from Vancouver Island, but the serenity of his peaceful morning stroll along the rain-soaked Trans-Canada Trail didn't last long. Harper was met later in the day in Mill Bay, B.C., by about 100 chanting, placard-carrying protesters who stood across the road leading to Brentwood College School, where the prime minister was set to speak to Conservative Party supporters. Several protesters jawed about public and private property rights with RCMP officers who formed a line nearby.

First Nations Blockade Camp Ups the Ante

January 8, 2014 Erin Flegg, www.vancouverobserver.com Resist! Enbridge, Energy, Environment, First Nations, Tar Sands

With the announcement of the National Energy Board’s ruling in favour of Enbridge’s Northern pipeline, and the fall of yet another government environmental safeguard, the organizers of the anti-pipeline blockade camp in Northern BC are more committed than ever to holding their ground. Along with partner Forest Action Network (FAN), they’ve put out a call for more volunteers, and FAN director Zoe Blunt says they’ve received a flood of applications in the past week from people eager to travel to the camp and help out. Blunt, who has been to the camp several times, said she had been involved in fighting tankers on the coast when she realized she needed to start higher up the chain. If there are no pipelines, she said, there can be no tankers. “We’ve found kind of a choke point here in the Morice River Valley, and if we can slow it down, close it off, stall it, it’s buying time for another kind of outcome.” That could mean decisions made by the courts or by the commodities markets. “If the economy contracts again, these pipelines are a lot less likely to go through.”

Neil Young to Play Benefit Concerts for Alberta First Nation Fighting Oilsands

December 11, 2013 Bob Weber www.canadianbusiness.com Educate! Environment, First Nations, Tar Sands

“The theme of the concerts is honour the treaties,” said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation spokeswoman Eriel Deranger. “All the ticket sales, all the proceeds from the concerts, not a single cent goes to anyone other than (the First Nation).” Young made his opinion of oilsands development clear when he visited the band and the region last fall. He compared the sight of massive open-pit mines to Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb blast. Young is one of a number of global entertainment celebrities who have visited the oilsands. The list includes actresses Darryl Hannah and Neve Campbell and film director James Cameron.

Indigenous Canadian Fracking Protesters Refuse To Back Down

December 3, 2013 Andrea Schmidt, www.aljazeera.com Resist! Canada, Environment, First Nations, Fracking

Anti-fracking demonstrators set tires ablaze to block a New Brunswick highway Monday in a fiery response to a judge’s decision to extend an injunction limiting their protests against a Texas-based shale gas exploration company. In a courtroom in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, Judge Paulette Garnett ruled to continue through Dec. 17 the injunction obtained by SWN Resources Canada against a coalition of protesters led by Mi’kmaq indigenous people from the Elsipogtog First Nation. The injunction, which SWN obtained on Nov. 22, is designed to keep protesters from interfering with SWN’s seismic testing work. It requires that demonstrators remain at least 250 yards in front of or behind contractors and their vehicles and 20 yards to the side.

First Nation Clan Blocks Path Of Northern Pipelines In British Columbia

December 3, 2013 Joseph Jones, www.truth-out.org Educate! Energy, Environment, First Nations, Tar Sands

Corporate interests are attempting to drive a set of pipelines through northern British Columbia wilderness, across lands that have never been ceded through treaty. The primary perpetrators in this instance are the Kitimat LNG project (a partnership between Apache Canada Ltd. and Chevron Canada Limited) and Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines (a creation of Enbridge Inc.). Canada’s own legal system says these lands do not really belong to Canada. Yet industry and settler governments show repeated readiness to use subterfuge and illegitimate force to try take over lands that still belong to Indigenous peoples.

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