Pictured here is Residential School Activist Nora Bernard, the 72-year old Mi’kmaq woman that started the first class-action lawsuit for Residential Schools survivors in 1996. Nora was recently found dead in her home.

In keeping with the patterns relayed in previous months, December was a time filled with both wanted and unwelcomed events.

On the positive side, government officials in India acknowledged the Narmada dam was illegal; and in Canada, the Ontario Government announced they will be …

“Moving Mountains, ” is a film produced by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) which examines the toxic legacy of large-scale mining in the Philippines.

The primary focus in the following 10 minute clip is on the region known as the Cordillera.

Home to over a million settlers and indigenous people, the Cordillera is a row of great mountain ranges occupying half of Northern Luzon in the Philippines.

Currently, there are more than 60 pending applications by mining companies to explore and exploit the minerals in the Cordillera–altogether covering more than half of the region (over 11,000 hectares).

There are …

The World Rainforest Movement’s Bulletin for December features an article by Guadalupe Rodriguez, a Campaigner for Tropical Forests and Human Rights, which discusses the ongoing criminalization of anyone opposed to the exploitative activities of transnational corporations in Ecuador.

The article also discusses “the First Summit of Communities Criminalized for Defending Nature”, which was held on November 16th at the Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador.

You can read the full article at World Rainforest Movement website. Here’s an excerpt:

As announced in the call to the Quito meeting, [the …

According to a recent article on Narco News, Colombia’s Anti-Narcotics Police will soon begin fumigating illicit crops inside of the country’s Indigenous Territories.

Though not publicly known until November 24, on October 8, the National Narcotics Council approved the new fumigation plan–alleging the government first engaged in a consultation process with the affected communities (which they are required to do by law).

Consultations have “supposedly been carried out in the departments (states) of Guaviare, Magdalena, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Cuaca, Caquetá, Vichada, Arauca and Guainía, and are still …

Black Mesa Indigenous Support has sent out an urgent call for people to help protect Yucca Mountain.

Located 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the Mountain range is located on Shoshone territory as defined in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The US government however refuses to acknowledge the treaty and is currently planning to make the Mountain range into a major nuclear waste repository.

The Shoshone and numerous other Indigenous Nations, all of whom hold Yucca Mountain sacred, have been actively opposed to the plan from the beginning. …

A group of Penan from the Upper Baram region of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak have reported Headman Kelesau Naan has vanished without a trace. He was last seen on October 23, 2007.

According to a media release by Bruno Manser Fonds, “The Penan leader, who was in his 70s, was last seen on 23 October 2007 in the vicinity of his village in one of Sarawak’s last intact rainforests. After two months, the Penan have decided to break the silence and have lodged a police report.” …

Living in their Sierra Madre Mountains stronghold, for hundreds of years the Huichol People of Mexico successfully resisted the genocidal impact of the Spanish Conquest. Almost untouched, they were able to maintain their traditional culture, language and spiritual way of life.

“Today, the Huichol Indians are less isolated, increasingly vulnerable and exposed to inroads made by the Mexican Government, modern industry and tourism. Although in some areas of their homeland, their traditional co- operative way of life, intricate dress, diverse art forms and ancient shamanic ceremonials remain strong; elsewhere they have become only haunting echoes of the past.

Huichol culture is …

At a press conference this morning, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant along with Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield announced Ontario will be returning Ipperwash Provincial Park lands to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation.

“As the first step in the process to transfer Ipperwash Provincial Park from the province to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, both parties will work together with the local communities to develop an interim co-management plan,” said Cansfield. “Through these discussions we will determine how the park …

Today, a group of Lakota calling themselves the Lakota Freedom Delegation are in Washington DC to announce their Nation’s withdrawal from all U.S. Treaties.

Information is fairly short at the moment, but they sent out a press release last week, explaining:

“For far too long our people have suffered at the hands of the colonial apartheid system imposed on the Lakota Sioux. Our treaties with the United States government are nothing more than worthless words on worthless paper – repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life.

The devastation …

In response to the increased aggressions of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-affiliated armed groups against the community of Bolom Ajaw in the region of the Agua Azul river, civil organizations and members of the Other Campaign in Chiapas have set up an observation camp in the Zapatista community.

The armed group wants to evict/displace the community from their land, because they say it used to be a privately owned tourist and resort area. In 1994 the Zapatista reclaimed the land…

To assist the community, “the Center for Political Analysis and Social and …