Spirit In Action

Change IS coming. WE can make it GOOD.


Leave a comment

Veterans Today » Law, Criminality, and Assaults on Indigenous Peoples

This is the introduction to a much longer article. Please click the link below to read the full article on Veterans Today.

Some of the things discussed here are shocking, disturbing and triggering. So **Trigger Warning** do not click through if you are having traumatic reactions (ptsd etc) especially due to sexual violence, or the generational effects of genocide.

Unfortunately, it seems to only serve the perpetrators to not expose and discuss these horrors.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

From South Africa to Gaza to British Columbia and Alberta:

Crime Wave Directed at the Elimination of Indigenous people

Many aspects of the world we are inheriting from our ancestors and are passing along to posterity go back to the trajectory of colonial history initiated in 1492 with Christopher Columbus’s initial trans-Atlantic voyage. The seizure by European powers of imperial control in the Americas initiated a process that continues to divide humanity. On one side of the divide are those on the delivering end of a colonizing process that never really ended. On the imploding side of colonization’s expansionary frontier are the Indigenous peoples. They are on the receiving end of an ongoing saga of dispossession, disempowerment and marginalization.

Screen Shot 2014-08-30 at 10.07.24 AM

Proof of the continuing nature of this oppressive process is all too evident in the statistics of suicide, domestic violence, incarceration, unemployment, poverty, addictions and the like. These stats continue to demonstrate, unfortunately, that Canada is not a country of decency and equity where human rights are respected and protected from wholesale violation. Those referred to in Canada’s highest constitutional law as the “Aboriginal peoples of Canada,” as “Indians, Inuit and Metis,” are overwhelmingly overrepresented on the negative side of virtually every major index of morbidity, illness, and socioeconomic status.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada are suffering because of a centuries-old crime wave directed in their direction. Often these crimes are sanctioned or actually committed by governments andScreen Shot 2014-08-30 at 4.53.17 PMpolice forces in Canada, in its ten provinces and in its three federal territories. The predatoryincursionscurrently suffered by the First Nations are epitomized by the 1,500 or so missing, murdered and traded Aboriginal women and girls that Canada’s racist criminal justice system cannot account for.

There is a growing swell of political pressure developing in Canada calling for a federal investigation into the phenomenon of missing, murdered and traded Aboriginal women and girls. This groundswell now extends even to many of Canada’s provincial premiers. Those who introduced the call for an investigation are closely connected to Idle No More, a very important movement whose most erudite activists have been doggedly exposing the links connecting the repression of Indigenous peoples in Canada and Palestine/Israel. This comparison is epitomized by the anti-Aboriginal policies of Stephen Harper, Canada’s neocon Prime Minister who has outdone even US politicians in displaying utter subservience to the anti-Palestinian dictates of Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likudnik obsessions.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/08/30/law-criminality-and-assaults-on-indigenous-peoples/

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/08/30/law-criminality-and-assaults-on-indigenous-peoples/


3 Comments

951 First Nation communities in 5 provinces from SK to NB will be affected by the Energy East Pipeline

EEroute-1-1

From-Harrison Friesen

951 First Nation communities in 5 provinces from SK to NB will be affected by the Energy East Pipeline.

**Is your community on the list?**

Saskatchewan Piapot First Nation
Muskowpetung First Nation
Pasqua First Nation
Carry the Kettle First Nation
Sakimay First Nations
Cowessess First Nation
Kahkewistahaw First Nation
Ochapowace First Nation
Ocean Man First Nation
Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation
White Bear First Nations
ManitobaBirdtail Sioux First Nation
Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation
Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation
Dakota Plains First Nation
Long Plain First Nation
Dakoto Tipi First Nation
OntarioShoal Lake First Nation
Iskatewizaagegan Independent First Nation
Obashkaandagaang First Nation
Anishinabe of Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation
Eagle Lake First NationWabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation
Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation
Fort William First Nation
Red Rock Indian Band
Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek First NationBingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation
Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek First Nation
Long Lake First Nation
Ginoogaming First NationConstance Lake First Nation
Taykwa Tagamou NationWahgoshig First Nation
Matachewan First Nation
Temagami First Nation
Nipissing First Nation
Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation
QuebecTimiskaming First Nation
Mohawks of Akwesasne First Nation
Mohawks of Kanesatake First Nation
Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke First Nation
Première Nation OdanakPremière Nation des Abénakis de WôlinakNation Huronne WendatPremière Nation
Malecite de VigerNew BrunswickMadawaska Maliseet First Nation
Tobique First Nation
Kingsclear First Nation
Saint Mary’s First Nation
Oromocto First Nation

To see the full list and read more about this please click the link below-

http://t.co/UQZrKviubI


1 Comment

Tar Sands Oil Extraction – The Dirty Truth – YouTube

<code></code>

Environmental devastation of the land, water, and air – the largest industrial energy project in the world is extracting crude oil from bitumen found beneath the pristine boreal forest of Alberta, Canada. Effecting a land mass equivalent in size to Florida or England, Both industry and government are putting money before the health and security of its people and the environment.

Tar sands take 3 barrels of water to process every barrel of oil extracted. Ninety percent of this water becomes so toxic that it must be stored in tailing ponds. Unfortunately these ponds regularly leach pollution into the third largest watershed in the world.

Water depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination has become one of the most important issues facing humanity this century. Check out my other video on water issues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMmpg3… and see my other videos to learn about the dark side of fossil fuels.

To learn more about tar sands, be sure to check out the featured film sources listed below. Find out more about what you can do and how to support the film makers.

Crude Sacrifice
http://www.crudesacrifice.com/

Dirty Oil (available to watch online)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA_BBG…

Downstream — (available to watch online)
http://www.babelgum.com/3015242/downs…

H2Oil
http://h2oildoc.com/home/

Petropolis
http://www.petropolis-film.com/

Check out a new promising technology to eliminate tailing ponds:
http://www.gizmag.com/ionic-liquids-u…

Tar sands development can be minimized by blocking development of pipelines, such as Keystone XL, that carry the sludge of this incredibly polluting energy project. Tell Canada to clean up this mess and join with Bill McKibben and Josh Fox and let your voice be heard.


Leave a comment

Ten hard Keystone XL facts

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4NO2MmgI7KWE-jqxQPnQ9bfnPFE8HeYRK-iHJyRwZ_laW8jhK

10 days. That’s how long we have to flood the State Department with comments opposing Keystone XL.

For the next ten days our friends across the movement are coordinating a ‘Comment Sprint’ to submit hundreds of thousands of comments against the pipeline — hopefully hitting 1 million in total.

If you’ve already submitted a comment, keep reading: you’re able to submit more than one, and in fact, you should. We want to show that people are opposed to the pipeline for many reasons, all of them grounded in hard facts, so every day for ten days, we’ll focus on a new reason to oppose the pipeline and submit new comments.

The State Department’s review has been heavy on politics and light on science, so the more we focus on the facts, the stronger our case to the President and the public will be to stop the pipeline.

The first day of the comment sprint is today. The first issue we’re focusing on is how the pipeline undermines energy security. We need to clear about one thing: TransCanada wants this pipeline so they can get tar sands oil to export.

President Obama’s job is to decide whether the pipeline is in the US national interest. TransCanada has shown that it’s not. In filings to the State Department and contracts with refiners, they’ve spelled out their plans to pad their profits by exporting it to the international market where it will fetch a higher price — putting more money in the pockets of big oil and accelerating tar sands development in Canada.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ27TrQgoTKa3lTPa-yu6lTQlvJscsE55SI527JOLP3KB09IY-l

Can you submit a comment to the President and State Department explaining the energy security case for stopping the pipeline? Click here to submit your comment: act.350.org/letter/kxl-sprint-day-1/

To hit a million comments, it will take a lot of us pitching in in different ways. At 350, we won’t email you every day for 10 days (more likely 4 or 5), but we will use social media and other tools at our disposal to promote the push every day between now and the 22nd. In particular, we will be relying on our Social Media Team to share crucial info about each day’s issue — if you’d like to join the Team and help super-charge key content over the next ten days, click here: act.350.org/signup/social/

Keystone XL is a climate disaster, and an economic loser. If built, it would carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands to export for the next 50 years, leaving a toxic legacy for communities along the route, and a massive carbon footprint on the atmosphere. And we’re going to do whatever we can to stop it.

Thanks for all you’ve done, and all you will do to stop the pipeline.

Duncan


Leave a comment

Ethical Enbridge? The real story of Line 9 and the tar sands giga-project | rabble.ca

Ethical Enbridge? The real story of Line 9 and the tar sands giga-project

By Dave Vasey Sakura Saunders Sonia Grant

| January 23, 2013 Ethical Enbridge? The real story of Line 9 and the tar sands giga-project

Change the conversation, support rabble.ca today.

Enbridge’s Line 9 reversal project has become a hot button issue in Ontario as Big Oil seeks to expand tar sands markets in the 401 corridor, the U.S. and potentially Europe. Line 9 runs from Sarnia, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec, passing within 50 km of an estimated 9.1 million people, including 18 First Nation communities, and directly through 99 towns and cities. In true Orwellian language, the reversal is being sold to the public as a jobs-creating, low impact, and ‘ethical’ project. It is none of these things.

Early in the application process, Enbridge misled the public by promoting the Line 9 reversal as part of its $3.2 billion “Light Oil Market Access” initiative. Pressure by environmental groups clarified Enbridge’s intent to pump tar sands dilbit through Line 9. The early mistrust established by Enbridge foreshadows the ethical doublespeak the public is expected to embrace with the Line 9 reversal. Indeed, the tar sands giga-project is one of the most violent projects on Earth and the extraction of dirty fuel represents at once a blatant case of environmental racism, climate chaos, and ecological catastrophe.

Line 9 was built in 1976 and was designed to carry light crude oil. In July 2012, the National Energy Board (NEB) approved Enbridge’s application to reverse the flow of the pipeline from Sarnia to Westover, Ontario, and is currently reviewing Enbridge’s application to reverse the rest of the pipeline to Montreal. Crucially, the reversal isn’t about the direction of the pipeline flow, but its contents: Enbridge is now openly seeking approval to transport tar sands dilbit from Alberta through Line 9. This raises multiple flags.

First, Line 9 is a 37 years old pipeline and the risks of a spill are higher for dilbit pipelines (particularly old ones) as tar sands crude is more corrosive, and transported under higher heat and pressure. Moreover, if a spill occurs the impact of dilbit is more severe for health, water and land, as dilbit contains higher levels of toxic carcinogens, including naptha and benzene. In 2010, these risks were brought into sharp relief when Enbridge’s Line 6B (originally constructed to transport light crude in 1969) ruptured spilling 20,000 barrels of dilbit into the Kalamzoo River in Michigan, a disaster that continues to have devastating impacts on surrounding communities and ecosystems. Most importantly however is the question of ‘ethics’ and how the Canadian state is responding to the apparent human rights and environmental crisis created by tar sands expansion.

Debunking the jobs argument

A core argument to support the Line 9 reversal has been job creation. In general, job creation has not been the goal of Big Oil — instead the industry has strived towards mechanization and low-cost labour. The ‘jobs’ argument for tar sands creates a fictitious division between the economy and the environment, attempting to pit employment against health and environmental concerns.

(This is only the intro to the article-please read the full article at rabble.ca here http://www.rabble.ca/news/2013/01/mcethicaltm-enbridge-line-9-and-tar-sands-gigaproject#)


3 Comments

Environmental Destruction Imminent – Harper government unloads a flurry of illegal and unconstitutional legislation [GROUNDED NEWS] 17.December.2012

the video site

via Grounded TV Network.

Environmental Destruction Imminent – Harper government unloads a flurry of illegal and unconstitutional legislation [GROUNDED NEWS] 17.December.2012

Native enbridge pipeline

photo by Ora Cogan

—PLEASE EMAIL TO FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS GROUPS—

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has passed legislation to let China’s China National Offshore Oil Corporation buy to Nexen. This takeover deal among other things puts three to six billion barrels of tar sands oil in CNOOC’s hands, would create devastating global climate effects if CNOOC exploits Nexen’s reserves to their fullest extent.

Canada has also legally exited the Kyoto Protocol just today, as well as already removed the protection of over 2 million lakes and rivers – allowing tar sands development anywhere.

And the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) international treaty passed and can come into effect at any given moment without notice. CNOOC will be able to sue Canadian governments in tribunals if our governments do anything to counter its growing interests, including common sense environmental protections and job creation efforts. Keep in mind that more than 130 First Nations have signed the Save The Fraser Declaration banning Enbridge Pipeline in their territories.

And the most damaging piece of legislation is the omnibus Bill C-45, the Federal Government vacates jurisdiction over waters, parks, fisheries, etc – and no longer has the responsibility and duty to consult First Nations concerning land development as legally required in our Treaties. It also gives power to decide fate of individual First Nations – even in Treaty Territory.

These new bills (there are several more to come) legally strip us of our legally binding treaty rights, which the Canadian government has no legal jurisdiction to alter or change. Bill C-45 is an unconstitutional bill which illegally alters long standing treaties between our two sovereign nations, effectively ending them along with our sovereign nation status. Not only does this drastically affect First Nation’s people, it also directly affects all North Americans and future generations – causing irreparable damage to the environment and its inhabitants.

The Idle No More movement which protests these undemocratic changes has spread via social media, and has garnered around 80% sheer hatred toward us for ‘complaining about treaties and free money’ when we should be ‘working and paying taxes like everyone else’.

Even though we’ve tried to reason with some of these individuals by explaining the above information to them, most don’t change their views out of spite. So alerting the Canadian public to hopefully garner support to sway the bill is out of the question for us.

Bill C-45 receives Royal Assent on Monday, which could signal the last time I can email you anything regarding this (as it can be construed as illegal under the new FIPA treaty which can go in effect at any moment without notice, and my band could be sued and be forced to pay crippling fees for months).

I and my sovereign Nation are urgently asking for your help. We need your help to alert and inform the international community and bring in sanctions against the Harper government for these numerous illegal and unconstitutional attacks on our environment and sovereign nation… it’s our only hope to protect this great land and future generations.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” – Edmund Burke

Sincerely,

Dallas Courchene

References:

http://www.ccbc.com/2012/12/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-canada-china-fipa-for-canadian-investors-operating-in-china/
http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20121214/KAMLOOPS0303/121219905/-1/kamloops03/fearing-worst-if-fipa-signed-with-china
http://www.facebook.com/notes/robert-animikii-horton/breakin-it-down-here-are-some-of-the-new-bill-features-and-just-how-treaties-bre/10151195812301025
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=18535
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16165033
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/10/18/pol-navigable-waters-protection-budget-bill.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16165033
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2012/12/cnooc-nexen-takeover-china-plays-chess-harper-plays-checkers
http://www.timminspress.com/2012/12/14/protesting-for-a-voice-to-be-heard-in-ottawa
http://www.savethefraser.ca

Dallas Courchene has been working toward creating positive social renewal for First Nation’s people and Canadian society for over 10 years.

His suggestions on how to create prosperity for and empower the First Nation’s people inspired US Congressman Dennis Kucinich to invite Dallas to sit beside him and speak at the 1st International Round Table Supporting Ancient Indigenous Knowledge event in the May of 2010. His ideas and efforts have led him to other influential people such as Mark Victor Hansen (co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series), Virgin Mobile founder Richard Branson, and presidents of social renewal agencies internationally – testament to the impact and effectiveness of his forward-thinking perspective.

Dallas continues to find innovative ways to create prosperity for his people, and looks to bring positive change within the fabric of society.

http://getgrounded.tv/2012/12/environmental-destruction-imminent-harper-government-unloads-a-flurry-of-illegal-and-unconstitutional-legislation-grounded-news/