Harvesting Freedom: Protect Farm Workers

7 Days of No Peace – Winnipeg

White Paper 2.0 #The ResistanceCampaign Webinar – Idle No More

#TheResistanceCampaign will be moderating this webinar featuring guests Sylvia McAdam Saysewahum (Treaty 6 lands), Chief Judy Wilson (Neskonlith Nation), and Russ Diabo (Kahnawake). We will be discussing the White Paper Agenda and the urgency of taking action against this legislation.  The webinar will be streamed live on Sunday May 26 from 5pm – 6pm EST

In this Webinar, we will be discussing a deeper understanding of what the ‘White Paper 2.0’ means and how Indigenous peoples are impacted by this. Discussions will also address specific Bills that are scheduled to pass in June 2019 that directly affect the rights and title of Indigenous people.  We encourage the public to join in on this Webinar as there will be opportunities to ask questions for our panelists to answer.

May 1st Day of Action against Trudeau’s assimilation campaign – Idle No More

In 1969 Our Peoples Mobilized to Protect Our Generation’s Treaty & Inherent Rights

It is Now Our Generation’s Turn to Mobilize to Stop Canada’s Termination Plan!

Today a National Strategy Meeting was held in Edmonton, Alberta by concerned elders, leaders and peoples from Treaty and Inherent Rights & Title Based Original Nations.

Information was presented to the participants about the Trudeau government’s massive changes to federal policy, law and structure, which amount to a renewed Termination Plan. What we call White Paper 2.0. The meeting participants also discussed an action plan to stop the latest version of the federal government’s Plan to Terminate our Treaty and Inherent rights.

On May 1st there will be a Day of Action Against the White Paper 2.0.  See the FB Event Page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/2051665521623629/

INM Campaign Poster

Poster art by Dakota Brandt

Question: What is the Danger to First Nations?

Answer: The federal approach is a new legislative & policy “Framework” to take advantage of our people’s poverty and financially force First Nations (Treaty & Non-Treaty) into signing new modern agreements ending our existing sovereignty, jurisdiction & original relationship with our lands, territories and resources as Indigenous Nations!

Since being elected in 2015, the Trudeau government has been implementing its national pan-Indigenous approach through various top-down, back-room processes using the three National Indigenous Organizations, including the Assembly of First Nations to “co-develop” changes to policy and law. The AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde has signed two agreements with the federal government: one on developing a new fiscal policy and one on shared priorities.

On May 1, 2, 2019, instead of holding an urgent Chiefs’ Assembly the AFN is holding an expensive policy forum with a stacked agenda to discuss four federal policies: 1) ‘Inherent Right’ Policy; Comprehensive Land Claims Policy; Specific Claims Policy and the Additions-To-Reserve Policy.  To bring attention to the threat these legislative and policy changes have on our future, people within the Indigenous Activist Networks have initiated a rally to be held in Edmonton, Alberta (old Indian Association of Alberta office).

Since February 2019, the federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett has been conducting a selective engagement process to replace the ‘Inherent Right’ and Comprehensive Land Claims Policies with a new “Rights-Based” Policy by June 2019. Minister Bennett has publicly said the federal government is working with their “partners” to replace these policies.

The federal “partners” are the 75 “Recognition & Self-Determination” tables set up by the Trudeau government in 2016 and the 50 groups at “Modern Treaty” & Self-Government Agreement tables.

To get support for their new policy changes, the federal government has announced it is forgiving/repaying $1.4 billion loans to those groups negotiating/settling under the comprehensive land claims policy.

CONCLUSION:

Based upon Canada’s “Summary of Current Approaches” document it seems the “rights-based” Policy contemplated for release June 2019, will be based on using the current “Modern Treaties”, “Self-Government Agreements” and First Nations specific legislation as precedents and templates for “rights-based” negotiations with those First Nations (Treaty & Non-Treaty) who have not entered into negotiations under Canada’s self-government/comprehensive claims policies or opted into First Nations specific legislation outside of the Indian Act, like the First Nations Land Management Act or the First Nations Financial Management Act.

For More Information on the new “rights based” policy to be introduced June 2019, please click here for the full briefing note.

For a downloadable poster about the campaign please click here.

For a fact sheet about the White Paper and Red Paper please click here.

Powerful New Report Released – Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – Idle No More

“We need to keep families together. Colonization and missing and murdered Indigenous women has broken families. The children left behind by missing and murdered Indigenous women are mostly in foster care and then when they age out they end up on the street. The violence against missing and murdered Indigenous women continues with their children who are also violated and made vulnerable.”  – from the Red Women Rising report

The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC) has just released Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside based on the lived experience, leadership, and expertise of Indigenous survivors.  This comprehensive report is the culmination of a participatory process with 113 Indigenous women and 15 non-Indigenous women regarding the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Violence against Indigenous women, girls, trans and two-spirit people is one of the most pressing human rights issue in Canada today. We know that the over-representation on homicides, poverty, homelessness, child apprehensions, police street checks, incarceration, and overdose fatalities is not a coincidence; it is part of an infrastructure of gendered colonial violence. Colonial state practices target women for removal from Indigenous lands, tear children from their families, enforce impoverishment, and manufacture the conditions for dehumanization.

Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is an extraordinary report with Indigenous women survivors at the center. Indigenous women in the DTESa neighbourhood known as ground zero for violence against Indigenous womenare not silent victims, statistics, or stereotypes. This unprecedented work shares their powerful first-hand realities of violence, residential schools, colonization, land, resource extraction, family trauma, poverty, labour, housing, child welfare, being two-spirit, police, prisons, legal system, opioid crisis, healthcare, and more.

Authored by Carol Muree Martin (Nisga’a and Gitanyow) and Harsha Walia with 128 collaborators, the compelling stories, rigorous research, and holistic recommendations within the 220-page report drastically and urgently shifts the lens from pathologizing poverty towards amplifying resistance to and healing from all forms of gendered colonial violence.

RWR-Cover.jpg

Idle No More Co-Founder faces trial for protecting ancestral land – Idle No More

INM_DOLRound_Logos.png

 

On February 26, 2017, a Saskatchewan Parks officer issued a warning to Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) and her brother Kurtis McAdam (Saysewahum). The warning advised them to vacate their ancestral homelands, land that their family has lived on since before European encroachment and land that was promised to their relations during Treaty 6 negotiations. Sylvia and Kurtis did not comply with the order and now must stand trial for contravening Section 25(1) of the Parks Act. Both Sylvia and Kurtis face fines and the possibility of imprisonment if convicted.

Idle No More and Defenders of the Lands stand in solidarity with Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) and Kurtis McAdam (Saysewahum). We insist that Canada, including the province of Saskatchewan, adopt Call to Action 45 (i) of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report—that is “to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius.”

At the heart of this legal battle is the Doctrine of Discovery. The Canadian government, including the provinces and territories, have, since the creation of Canada and the 1867 Canadian Constitution Act, assumed control over Indigenous lands.

The trial of Sylvia and Kurtis will take place on March 20-22, 2019, in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, in courtroom #5, starting at 9:30am. Please attend the trial and/or show your solidarity and support of the “accused.”

For more information, please access the following Go Fund Me page:  https://www.gofundme.com/landless-no-more?fbclid=IwAR298vgmC9LPxdrN9xbpGqi5fCSaU-1hDGPCp-6hEAfARxA_fptGmGXRZrA

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Treaty-6-Court-Case-Landless-No-More-620520195042556/?modal=admin_todo_tour

 

Contact:

Sylvia McAdam (306) 281-8158

Kurtis McAdam (306) 941-1544

Larry Kowalchuk (306) 529-3001 (Kowalchuk Law)

IDLE NO MORE IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE GITDUMT’EN AND UNIST’OT’EN: CALL TO ACTION! – Idle No More

Since time immemorial, the Unist’ot’en house of the Wet’suwet’en have lived by Wedzin Kwah (Morice River). The Wet’suwet’en people have governed themselves for centuries, and under their governance, each house is responsible for its own lands. In order to protect their ability to continue living on the land and from the land, for the last five years, the Unist’ot’en have maintained a camp by Wedzin Kwah that is blocking seven pipelines that have not been consented to by the Unist’ot’en. In this effort the Unist’ot’en are joined by many supporters and allies whom they have invited to their land.

Recently, the Gitdumt’en have joined them in defending their unceded territory. Hereditary leaders from both clans and supporters have re-occupied their unceded territory on the path of the proposed Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline road.

49523781_10156873294974337_9007463919215706112_n.jpg

In response, Canada’s colonial courts have granted an injunction allowing the RCMP to evict these land defenders from their lands to facilitate construction of a fracked gas pipeline. Members of the RCMP met with Hereditary Chiefs and indicated that specially trained tactical forces will soon be deployed to forcibly remove the camps, checkpoints and people from their land.

Today the Unist’ot’en face the possibility that the full violence of the Canadian state will be brought to bear against them. In response, people across Turtle Island are holding rallies in solidarity with the Gitdumt’en and Unist’ot’en, and to protest Canada’s illegal encroachment on Wet’suwet’en land.

The message of the rally organizers is clear: “Indigenous law is the law of the land on unceded territories, and traditional title-holders have the right to refuse access to their lands. Disregarding this ancient law in order to further expand fossil fuel production during a time of extreme climate crisis is totally unacceptable. Agents of the corporate state will face resistance if they continue to pursue resource colonialism during this climate emergency” International Day of Action for Gitdumt’en and Unist’ot’en.

Idle No More organizers call on all Indigenous Peoples and Canadians of conscience to provide political, financial and material support to the Gitdumt’en and the Unist’ot’en, and to raise awareness in their communities. Further, we commit to an organized response in the event of police violence against the Gitdumt’en and the Unist’ot’en.

Solidarity actions and more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/2225649537692362/?active_tab=about

 

Media Contacts:

Idle No More Organizer Sylvia McAdam 1-306-281-8158

Idle No More Organizer Sheelah McLean 1-306-280-3245

Idle No More Condemns the Norwegian Slaughter of Reindeer – Idle No More

 

The Norwegian government recently decided to forcefully slaughter most of Jovsset Ánte Sara’s reindeer herd to a level that he cannot make a living from. The slaughter is scheduled for the end of 2018.

In 2015, Jovsset Ánte sued the government for the decision to slaughter his reindeer that in reality pushes him away from his livelihood, culture and way of life. Sara won his case against the state of Norway in the two lower national courts but in the Supreme Court he was ruled to decimate his herd. His case is appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee but the Norwegian government refuses wait for the committee’s recommendation. By upholding the Supreme Court’s fatal decision, the state of Norway shows no concern for the human tragedy this will impose on the Sara family.  Jovsset Ánte Sara’s has support from the Sámi Nation who stand behind him and his family.

Idle No More urges the Norwegian government to reconsider their decision and wait for the UN`s Human Rights Committee’s recommendations.

Media Contact:

info@idlenomore.ca

https://www.thelocal.no/20171222/norway-court-orders-slaughter-of-reindeer-a

#wesupportjovssetante

#miidoarjutjovssetántte

Click on the image above or here to download the PDF of the release.

 

Photo Credit:  Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

Updates on Sustainable Solutions & More! – Idle No More

Idle No More organizer & One House Many Nations builder, Alex Wilson, speaking at Just Transitions

In this email update, we are sharing some exciting news from the Indigenous folks who are working for sustainable solutions for not only our communities but also to provide models other communities can pick up to apply at home. We get to learn more from folks who are showing how to lead in result based solutions.

This coming weekend, Alex Wilson of the One House Many Nations campaign and the Idle No More network, will be joining Michelle Brass of Indigenous Climate Action, at the Just Transitions: Building Saskatchewan’s Next Economy summit at the Campus Regina Public institution. They will be presenting “Decolonizing the Transition” on Sunday, October 28th, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. This public event is free and child minding services are available for those who need them. The Transition Summit runs from Saturday, October 27th to Sunday, October 28th, 2018.

The workshop topics and speakers presentations will include:

  • Transitioning Employment and Work (Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
  • Phasing out Coal (Climate Justice Saskatoon and Chris Gallaway, Alberta Federation of Labour)
  • Transitioning the Electrical Grid (Mark Bigland-Pritchard)
  • Decolonizing the Transition (Michelle Brass, Indigenous Climate Action and Alex Wilson, Idle no More and One House Many Nations)
  • Winding down the Oil and Gas Industry (Regan Boychuk from Reclaim Alberta)
  • Teaching about Transition (Jared Clarke, Climate activist and grades 6/7 teacher)
  • Solar Coops (Wascana Solar Cooperative)
  • Transitioning Agriculture (Cathy Holtslander and Darin Qualman, National Farmers Union)

Register for the Transitions Summit here: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/transitions-summit-sk

Tiny House Warriors Update

Beginning today, the Tiny House Warriors have launched an online auction to raise funds. The first auction proceeds were applied entirely towards the purchase of a truck which was required to mobilize the Tiny House’s, the teams have already built, through unceded Secwepemcul’ecw.

Tiny House Warriors, stewards & protectors of unceded Secwepemc territory are maintaining vigilant surveillance over Secwepemc lands and sacred headwaters. The Tiny House warriors need your support to help winterize the camp and build it up with enough supplies to last through the long winter months.

How It Works: Artists, crafter, donors, and generally generous folks donate an item to the online, Facebook Auction Event page by posting one picture of the auction item and include their auction winner terms. For example, “Winning bidder pays to ship.” or “Winning bid includes shipping” are but some of the terms donors require. Interested buyers make the bids in the comment section of the post and make the payment for the winning bid item directly to the Tiny House Warriors, while shipping payment and arrangements are worked out between the donor and winner.

The Tiny House Warriors Auction runs from today, October 22nd until November 12th, 2018. To stay up to date with the Tiny House Warriors movement, like their Facebook Page here: Tiny House Warriors

Idle No More, Defenders of the Land & Truth Campaign Teach-In Tools Update

In case you missed our widely viewed, live-streamed YouTube webinar on the Federal “Rights and Recognition” Framework, we have included here, in our email update. Due to technical issues related to internet connections, we were unable to wrap up the discussion with our guest panelist Rachel Snow, as we had originally planned. We still were able to provide you with a great deal of information, in spite of our connectivity problems. We plan on having Rachel Snow back to speak about the Federal Framework, but in a different format, quite possibly a podcast. Stay tuned for that in the future. Below is a complete list of the tools our joint team has released to date:

#NotOurFramework Rights and Recognition Framework Webinar: