Centered on ushering in “a new era of first nations relations with the Crown,” the “days of action” campaign is now officially underway.
On Sunday, “protesters representing Treaty 4 First Nations brought traffic on Highway 1 east of Regina to a crawl and barricaded the road leading into a pipeline construction compound,” reports the Saskatchewan News Network. Lasting for about half an hour, the protesters moved and set up a camp at the intersection leading into the Waschuk Pipeline site, just west of White City.
“We’re going to be 24/7 occupation here and we will remain as such until we believe we have some commitments,” stated Treaty 4 spokesperson Edmund Bellegarde. “We will take as long as is necessary to get the proper parties to the table, being the federal and provincial governments and the industry players.”
“We’re hoping to keep the lines of communication …
Chief Bernard Ominayak of the Lubicon Cree Nation has (once again) informed TransCanada that the Lubicon are “prepared to consider talking with TransCanada about [their] proposal to build a major new gas pipeline across unceded Lubicon Territory,” in a letter dated September 9, 2008.
However, Chief Ominayak states that such a meeting depends on the Crown corporation respecting Lubicon rights, something that must begin with the “suspension of TransCanada’s application [...] to build that pipeline without first obtaining Lubicon agreement.”
These words come in response to an August 29th letter by Eric Mohun, TransCanada’s Aboriginal Relations spokesperson. In his letter, Mohun attempts to assure Chief Ominayak that “TransCanada [...] recognizes and respects Lubicon Land, and with this recognition, we are sincerely interested in meeting with Chief and Council, hear of the issues and needs of the community and to arrive at a mutually acceptable …
A group of Tribal Nations, Native Rights Organizations, and Social/Environmental Justice Allies have joined forces to address the US federal governments’ lack of cooperation and consultation when it comes to corporate development on Indigenous Territories.
“Corporate development of federal lands that overlap sacred Tribal ancestral lands not only further the desecration and destruction of sacred places and areas which Indigenous Peoples have traditionally used and safeguarded, but harm longstanding and positive Tribal social and cultural structures, increase threats to endangered and threatened species, and cause environmental destruction”, states Mark LeBeau, Co-Chair of the Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites. “The protection and preservation of sacred places are essential to the practice of Indigenous Peoples’ freedom of religions, a fundamental human right which is recognized by both federal and international law.”
Highlighting the Medicine Lake Highlands in California and the San Francisco …
Information is scarce, but there’s apparently a day of action in Saskatchewan tomorrow, September 28, 2008, directed at two oil pipeline sites held by the Calgary-based Enbridge corporation.
Explained in this video: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=OxDBCCYcQL0, posted on youtube this morning, the action is backed by “The First Nations United Front”, a collective of Indigenous nations from the territories of Treaty One, Treaty Two, Treaty Four, Treaty Six, Treaty Eight, and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (FSIN) along with the Five Hills Quappelle Tribal Council, Touchwood Agency Tribal Council, the Yorkton Tribal Council, the Prince Albert Grand Council, and the Southeast Tribal Council.
The narrator of the video states:
“On September, 16th, 17th, and 22nd — in three resolutions of the collective chiefs [above mentioned] — it was confirmed that a new era of first nations relations with the Crown must begin concerning the natural resources of the land, and that this must be …
Tawian’s Ministry of Economic Affairs recently announced three proposed sites for nuclear waste. Two of these sites are located near indigenous communities in the counties of Pingtung and Taitung in southern Taiwan.
As TITVWeekly explains in the following 2-minute news brief, the governments of all three counties have said they will conduct environment evaluations and hold referendums on the issue before proceeding. A location will be chosen in 2011.
Members from the Nantian community of Taitung County have begun to express concerns over the possibility of living next door to a nuclear waste dump. They say they should have been told about it a long time ago, and now they want detailed information to make an informed decision on whether or not they want the dump. Other members from the community just want to benefit from the dump.
The third largest county on the island, Taitung holds the largest …
Tribal community members from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations have major concerns about the dangers they will face if the Council of the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT), along with Triad Engineers Limited (of Linden, Utah and Calgary, Alberta, Canada), go ahead with their plan to build a new oil refinery on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.
“The people of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nations and of the surrounding area are all already living and dying with the devastating, adverse effects imposed upon our health & well being by the existing multiple polluting stressors of several coal/lignite power plants, the USA’s first coal gasification plant, coal mining, oil wells, the states existing oil refinery, and farm land herbicide/pesticide use, and we all agree that the proposed refinery’s toxic effects to human and environmental health and well being can not be and …
In an attempt to break the resistance to logging in the rainforests of Sarawak, the government has officially announced that it will no longer recognize tribal leaders in some Penan communities.
These leaders include:
1. Saund Bujang from the community of Long Benali, who successfully led an effort to stop the timber company Samling from entering their lands through the use of blockades and a media campaign. The government is currently trying to replace him with a Samling stakeholder.
2. Bilong Oyoi from the community of Long Sait (pictured on the right), who is one of the leading plaintiffs in the long-standing Penan land rights claim. Bilong received a letter from the government simply stating that he had been deposed.
3. Another plaintiff in the land rights case, the late Kelesau Naan, former headman of Long Kerong who disappeared in October 2007. Two months later, …
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