Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) is a small, remote, First Nation in Northern Ontario that was sued early last year by Platinex, a Toronto-based junior mining exploration company, for $10 Billion dollars. Platinex also sought out an injunction against KI so they could drill for platinum on their Traditional Territory without the community’s permission. In turn, KI submitted a counter-injunction…

In what was widely regarded a landmark decision, a few months later an Ontario Superior Court Judge ruled in favour of KI, ordering a moratorium on mining while the …

close up shot of 97 protesters holding up the recommendations from the ‘Little Children are Sacred’ report - recommendations which have been ignored in the Federal government’s heavy handed response. more photos here

On November 17, there is an international Day of Action for the Indigenous People in the Northern Territory of Australia, who have since June been the subjects of a thoroughly-planned-out draconian scheme that has undermined indigenous rights, done away with the …

Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

More than 5,000 people converged last month in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to protest a deal made by the state government to appropriate nearly 10,000 acres of land and hand it over to the India-based Tata Steel Corporation.

Upon doing so, the giant transnational company would then gain the right to mine ilmenite (which yields titanium metal and titanium dioxide when processed–both extremely valuable materials.) in Sathankulam, an agrarian pocket of …

image from colombia.indymedia.org

On October 10, 2007, thousands of indigenous People, farmers, unionists, teachers, students, and activists demonstrated throughout Colombia as part of the National Popular and Agrarian Mobilization, a day of action that was first called on by the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra Valley (ACVC), shortly after the Sept. 29 detention of four ACVC leaders.

Over a dozen actions were organized throughout Colombia, mobilizing upwards of 20,000 people– some …

The Native Federation of Madre de Dios River and tributaries (FENAMAD) has denounced the governments actions toward granting mining concessions to indigenous lands in Peru, and have announced they must resort to self-defense in order to defend their right to the land.

They say the concessions are for one, a violation of the constitution and the ILO convention. But it is also causing conflict, and principally contributing to the “plundering of our territories, contamination of rivers and watersheds, destruction of the forest, fleeing animals” and putting pressure on hunting, causing difficulties …

Teshekpuk Lake, located in Northern Alaska, is one of the most important and sensitive arctic wetland complexes in the Northern Hemisphere. A summer home to thousands of migratory birds, the lake region is also an important subsistence hunting and fishing ground for the local indigenous population.

In 1923, Teshekpuk Lake was placed into Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and was designated for use by the military, but the government of the day came to see the area was just too unique to exploit. The Bush Administration, however, sees …

The Dominion has recently published it’s special issue on the Alberta tar sands; and has since last Monday , been publishing roughly one article a day about this massive, barely understood human rights and environmental disaster.

Four of the articles published so far have focused on the impact of tar sands development on indigenous people. In light of the seriousness of this issue and in respect to the effort of the Dominion to raise peoples awareness, I thought I’d briefly outline them…

The first article, “Oil Versus …

A decade-long struggle for the Maya villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz came to an unexpected, hopeful end last week. Chief Justice, Dr. Abdulai Conteh granted the order sought by the villages to have their customary land tenure practices acknowledged and secured under the Constitution.

Historically, the Government of Belize has systematically denied the Maya rights to their land, by claiming they were Guatemalan immigrants, therefore without a valid claim.

Under that premise, in 1993 the Government allowed logging on over 500,000 acres in the Toledo District, and granted …

On Sunday, Via Campesina peacefully occupied an experimental GMO field of the Swiss company Syngenta in the state of Parana, Brazil, when it was attacked by an armed militia that killed one and critically injured 6 others.

Via Campesina issued a statement following the attack, demanding a full investigation into what they describe as the execution of Keno, a local MST leader who was shot twice at point-blank range. They are also calling for Syngenta to be held accountable because they hired the militia in the first …

Asserting jurisdiction within the Haldimand Tract, last month Traditional Chiefs at Six Nations announced a plan where they would set up an organization and begin to charge fees and require permits for construction to occur within the Haldimand Tract; a region that is by all legitimate means Six Nations Territory.

Well, this past Wednesday the Province of Ontario’s negotiator, Murray Coolican, told Confederacy Representatives that they do not have the right (therefore jurisdiction) to collect payments or issue permits.

As quoted by the Globe and mail, Mr. …