Category: Environment

Environmental preservation, sustainable earth.

We are all treaty people: An Indigenous Solidarity Town Hall Meeting for KW

Monday May 28

6-8pm

WLU Faculty of Social Work, Auditorium

120 Duke St. West, Kitchener, ON

(across from the back of City Hall)

 

Read details below, about why we need this conversation.

Indigenous Solidarity Town Hall

Did you know that Canada exists on traditional Indigenous territory?

Like the rest of this country, Kitchener-Waterloo residents have settled on land that was stewarded long before by the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America). Later granted by law of the British government to the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, an ongoing colonial legacy of Canadian law and policy has resulted in their wrongful displacement from this land, and the construction of cities like our own – without any acknowledgement of that history. In this context, Grand River Indigenous Solidarity invites you to participate in a community discussion, from a settler perspective, about what it means for us to live and work in this region. Come out and learn from local organizers about current Indigenous sovereignty struggles and solidarity work, as well as how you can get involved!

Topics of our conversation will include:

-A brief history of whose land we live on, and how this came to be

-Report-back and updates from the April 28th Walk for Peace, Respect, & Friendship in Caledonia

-Allied resistance against tar sands development and environmental impacts across Ontario, report-back about the issues surrounding the Line 9 pipeline that crosses the Halidmand Tract in Ontario & the London hearings

-The Oshkimaadziig encampment and cultural education project in Awenda Provincial Park

-Resistance to the construction of a new waste processing plant in Dundalk, with two key representatives of the struggle speaking

-Grassy Narrows and River Run 2012 in Toronto from June 5-8!

Generously supported by WPIRG

TAPPED – Another GREEN Movie Night

by CREW (Community Renewable Energy of Waterloo).

Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig’s 2009 award winning and broadly recognized documentary is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.

When: Thursday, May 24, 7pm with displays & info starting at 6:30 pm
Where: Original Princess Cinema, Princess St., Waterloo

Protest Enbridge’s bid to bring the Tar Sands to Ontario

On Wed. May 23 a number of local people will car-pool to London (leaving Waterloo at 7:30 am) to protest National Energy Board hearings on Enbridge’s request to reverse the flow of oil in its “Line 9” pipeline across southern Ontario. The pipeline, which now carries imported crude from the port of Montreal to Sarnia to be refined, would start to carry bitumen from the tar sands to Montreal, and ports farther east, to be exported.

This pipeline crosses Waterloo Region, crossing the 401 near Ayr and the Grand River nearby, and passing very close to Cambridge’s southeastern limits. It also, of course, crosses Six Nations territory.

Read more below about the Line 9 pipeline, and how to join the protest.

On Wed. May 23 a number of local people will car-pool to London (leaving Waterloo at 7:30 am) to protest National Energy Board hearings on Enbridge’s request to reverse the flow of oil in its “Line 9” pipeline across southern Ontario.   The pipeline, which now carries imported crude from the port of Montreal to Sarnia to be refined, would start to carry bitumen from the tar sands to Montreal, and ports farther east, to be exported.

This pipeline crosses Waterloo Region, crossing the 401 near Ayr and the Grand River nearby, and passing very close to Cambridge’s southeastern limits.  It also, of course, crosses Six Nations territory.

Read more below about the Line 9 pipeline, and how to join the protest.

Enbridge “Line 9”: The Tar Sands come to Ontario

http://rabble.ca/news/2013/05/other-enbridge-pipeline-ontarios-line-9-project

https://www.facebook.com/events/348734795189701/

Wednesday May 23:
Join us at a regional convergence against Enbridge, the National Energy Board, and tar sands expansion
Enbridge is being granted a fast-tracked review for their line 9 tar sands pipeline reversal through Ontario.  Official hearings begin in London, Ontario on May 23rd.

Let’s fight back!

*************

9:30 am –
Gather near London City Hall (300 Dufferin Avenue – see map: http://tinyurl.com/cp4cgsl)
Meet up before a march to the National Energy Board (NEB) hearing to oppose an expansion of the tar sands pipeline network.

10:15 am –
Rally at the NEB hearing at the Hilton London Hotel (300 King Street – see map: http://tinyurl.com/7ty76zz)
We are opposing the NEB hearing — which is biased in favour of Enbridge, and against Six Nations. The march will arrive before the hearing is scheduled to begin.

1pm –
The rally will be followed by an unofficial People’s Hearing on the Tar Sands Pipeline: http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/

THE ENBRIDGE PIPELINE

The proposal from Enbridge Inc. is to reverse the flow direction of the existing Line 9, from Sarnia toward Hamilton and the Toronto area (map: http://tinyurl.com/6suulf4). This eastward flow will enable more tar sands oil to enter Ontario. Enbridge is likely to use this reversal to export oil from the east coast, as in the Trailbreaker Proposal (map: http://tinyurl.com/7axf4cm).

The pipeline crosses multiple waterways, including the Grand River which flows through Six Nations territory, and the Thames river, through London, Ontario.  The Great Lakes are downstream.

Line 9 was built in 1975.  Corrosive tar sands and increased flow pressure would increase the risk of a disastrous breach.  A similar Enbridge pipeline ruptured along the way to Sarnia in 2010, spoiling 40 kilometers of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.

NATIVE RIGHTS

Enbridge and the NEB are not seeking consent from any of the Indigenous Peoples who may be impacted by this project.

This project violates a series of treaties and agreements: Nanfan treaty, Two-Row Wampum, Great Peace of Montreal treaty, Haldimand Proclamation, section 35 of the Constitution Act, and the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The line 9 reversal will cross land granted to the Six Nations in the Haldimand Proclamation (map: http://tinyurl.com/82zccke). Six Nations people have ongoing concerns about pipeline rupture which would seriously affect the land, water and culture. In particular, the community of Ohsweken is immediately downstream of the Line 9 crossing.  Ohsweken’s water supply is the Grand River.

THE NEB HEARING

The NEB hearing has been fast-tracked, without allowing for adequate participation; the process is inaccessible for the general public; and the federal government can completely overrule its decision. To add insult, the official hearing does not consider the impact of tar sands extraction. Therefore, any NEB decision will be undemocratic and illegitimate.

This project should not be approved without free, prior, and informed consent.
FURTHER INFORMATION

https://www.facebook.com/PeopleVersusLine9

http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/line9/

Contact: Paisley Cozzarin at WPIRG <paisleycozzarin@gmail.com>

or Toban Black in London: toban@riseup.net