~~~SisterSea~~~

CPTnet 17 October 2007 CPT Canada recalls team from Algonquin blockade ROBERTSVILLE , ON : The Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations have agreed to a mediation process involving their representatives, the governments of Canada and Ontario , and the uranium exploration company Frontenac Ventures (FV). As stipulated by the mediation agreement, the Algonquins left the Robertsville Mine site on 12 October 2007 after occupying it since 28 June 2007. Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada recalled its violence reduction team from the Algonquin Blockade on 12 October as well. The mediation process will encompass the following discussions: --whether Frontenac's staked claims and mining lease are legally valid; --the possibility of withdrawing traditional Algonquin land from staking and a moratorium on mineral exploration and mining; --addressing on-the-ground concerns about the impacts of uranium drilling. Frontenac Ventures obtained a license under the Onta...

By Alan Slater Frank Morrison was cutting his winter wood supply on his northern Frontenac County farm in October of 2006 when he came across stakes and severely damaged trees in his woodlot. This was the first warning that a company called Frontenac Ventures was exploring for uranium in the area. People soon learned that the Ontario government had given Frontenac Ventures permission to stake uranium claims on privately owned land and Crown land that is claimed by Algonquin First Nations people. On June 28, 2007, the Algonquin people set up a blockade at the main gate to the exploration site. Within a few days, the white settlers in the area had formed the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium, www.ccamu.ca , to support the Algonquin action. These pristine hills and forests of north Frontenac are the head waters of the Mississippi River, which flows into the Ottawa River through Carleton Place , Almonte and Packenham. People from all along the river right down to Ottawa...

September 11, 2007 (Vancouver, BC) – Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and six other international conservation groups are running an advertisement in today’s Financial Times in London, UK, targeting Royal Dutch Shell’s plan for a coalbed methane gas field in northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters. The ad features protesters at a First Nations road blockade and the headline, “This time it’s Canada .” “Shell’s European executives and the British Columbian government need to know the world is watching their actions in the Sacred Headwaters,” said Lisa Matthaus with Sierra Club of Canada, one of the ad signatories. “If Shell pushes ahead with its plan to drill for gas in the Sacred Headwaters, they will face an escalating international campaign.” The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of three of BC’s most important wild salmon rivers: the Skeena, Nass and Stikine . It is also home to grizzly bears, caribou, wolves and stone sheep. Last month, members of the Tahltan F...

From CPTnet 26 September 2007 TORONTO : Christian Peacemaker Congress joins witness calling on Ontario legislature to respect First Nation moratoria on industrial use of traditional lands In advance of the October 10 Ontario 2007 provincial election, more than 250 CPTers, native rights and environmental activists joined First Nation leaders at the Ontario Legislature on Friday, September 21, 2007 to issue a challenge to all political parties: respect moratoria issued by indigenous communities against industrial activities on their traditional lands. As part of the witness, participants unfurled a seventy-five-metre-long banner in the shape of a yellow arrow that read, "Native Land Rights Now." Co-sponsored by Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the witness was a scheduled event of CPT's first Peacemaker Congress in Canada . Native groups in attendance included representatives from Asubpeeschoseewagong ( Grassy Narrows ), Ardoch and Kitchenuhmaykoosi...

By Bob Holmes Robertsville, ON CPT Canada News September 19, 2007 Harold Perry, honorary chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN), was driven to court in Kingston, Ontario by his daughter Mona on September 18, 2007. He expected to be arrested, something he welcomed because it would bring to a head the on-going conflict of the Algonquins with Frontenac Ventures and the provincial government of Ontario. The government is allowing Frontenac to explore for uranium on unceded Algonquin lands without Algonquin permission. On June 28, 2007, the AAFN, together with the Shabot Obaajiwan First Nation, closed the gate at the entrance of the road being used for uranium exploration. The Algonquins occupied the area inside the gate and, in support, non-aboriginal settlers from the area set up a tent city outside the gate. (Non-aboriginal supporters of the blockade call themselves “settlers” to acknowledge their status as newcomers on the land.) On August 31, a court injunction obtained by F...

By Victoria Marie And they must rejoice when they live among people [who are considered to be] of little worth and who are looked down upon, among the poor and the powerless, the sick and the lepers, and the beggars by the wayside (Francis of Assisi in Lynch OFM, 1998). Feminist theory encourages the researcher to situate herself. In adherence to feminist principles, I wish to situate myself by showing how I arrive at my passion for social justice. I am an African-American (Canadian) Catholic woman and a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Joy, an ecumenical religious community of women. This social position contains several points of marginality within society and the Catholic Church. The Church as a whole is admittedly patriarchal and in North America is a predominately white institution. The community of sisters to which I belong is marginal within the church because of our stance on living without property as individuals and as a community. The concept of social justice has a...

CPT sent a violence reduction team yesterday to accompany the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadijiwan First Nations in their continuing blockade of uranium mining exploration on their unceded territory. An Ontario Superior Court injunction was served against the blockade on August 31, 2007. The injunction grants mining exploration company Frontenac Ventures Corporation “immediate” and “unfettered” access to the 8,000 hectares it has staked and is currently drilling. The Ontario Provincial Police have not said whether or not they intend to enforce the injunction. Ardoch Algonquin First Nation is a non-status, non-treaty Aninshinaabe community of about 700 members located in the Madawaska, Mississippi and Rideau watersheds (Frontenac and Lanark counties in eastern Ontario ). They have not ceded title to the lands currently under exploration by Frontenac. Aboriginal title to unceded land is established in Canadian law by the Royal Proclamation Act of 1763 and was enshrined in...

MONTREAL , Aug. 20 /CNW Telbec/ - A Greenpeace investigative report released today reveals the names of many high profile and recognizable international companies fueling the destruction of Canada 's Boreal Forest to create everyday consumer products. Among the 35 companies listed are Best Buy, Grand & Toy, Toys "R" Us, Time Inc., Sears, Coles/Indigo, Penguin Books US and Harlequin. Rona, the Canadian home improvement and hardware store, is also named in the report. Each company is profiled as a customer of logging and pulp companies Abitibi-Consolidated, Bowater, Kruger and SFK Pulp, whose destructive logging practices are responsible for decimating nearly 200,000 km2 of Boreal Forest, or 3.5 times the size of Nova Scotia . "Today, we're naming names," said Kim Fry, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace. "The logging companies and customers featured in this report are driving the destruction of Canada ...

Jane, white European woman – Thank you for your frank and heartfelt sharing. I speak as a white European woman recovering from familial abuse and entrenched misogyny. I have had to struggle to find new roads on old maps – roads which lead to worthwhile destinations and not pain and self destruction. I am amazed that you are a catholic with the strong misogyny of the male clergy and the euro-centric value system of the present hierarchy. I couldn't deal with the insularity and smug self righteousness of the Christians I met and am no longer a frequenter of any church building. I find a park more holy than any building, but I have had so many miracles that I feel loved by a higher power. I taught children for 25 years but could never decide who was white, coloured or black. They were Carlos or Paul or Catherine. Victoria, woman African descent – There are two issues I think need addressing. The first is my remaining in the Catholic Church. I, too, left the church at one time ...

July 24, 2007 (Source: http://www.caledoniawakeupcall.com/updates/070724mnn.html) On June 28, 2007 leadership and members of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation moved to secure the site of a proposed uranium mine in the traditional lands of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation near Ardoch Ontario. Frontenac Ventures Corporation, under the ownership of George White had been notified by mail to vacate the premises prior to the 28th with his equipment and staff. On the 28th members of the two Algonquin communities moved in and secured the site to prevent the drilling of uranium core samples which were slated to begin the following week. Upon securing the site, the two communities established an alliance whose overall purpose was to prohibit access to the site and any proposed drilling within and around the site and all associated sites by Frontenac Ventures Corporation. The Algonquin alliance discovered through an initial search that multiple users had been gran...

Learning to Trust originally appeared in From the Well , the Vancouver Catholic Worker Newsletter I’ve done my share of living with people, I survived the sixties. In reality pursued a “sixties” lifestyle until the end of the eighties. These past seven years are the sum total of a solitary lifestyle for me. Quite frankly, I’ve come to enjoy it. The quiet and the solitude are necessary for building a life of prayer and moving forward in my formation. On a more earthly plane, I like to watch television until the wee hours of the night. These are some of the arguments that the committee in my head were debating. On closer reflection, the realization came to me that I could not live Gospel values in isolation. Professing to be in solidarity with the poor and marginalized from a distance is to be in solidarity with a theory and not a practice. I had often criticized people for referring to “the poor” as if the poor was some faceless entity out there or over there. I realized that for me to ...

Saint Francis of Assisi saw the beauty and interconnectedness of all things, which inspired him to write the Canticle of Brother Sun. Saint Bonaventure writes that God is visible in his footprints, that is, in creation. Plants, animals, earth, air, wind, fire, people, all bear the imprint of the Creator. Many of us have become so far removed from the natural wonder of our world that we ignore the sacred connection of creatures—creation, to their Creator. During the delegation’s visit to the Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows) First Nation, we had the opportunity to see, experience and learn from people who remember and live in away that respects the sacredness of life. We saw how a natural forest is a diverse, interdependent ecosystem. We learned how the forest supports both plant and animal species that also support human life. We also saw clear-cuts and their results. In speaking of what is happening at Whiskey Jack Forest of Grassy Narrows, Brian Tuesday, says that the peopl...

Creator, day before yesterday, while entering names in the intercessory prayer list, I was about to type, "Be with them Lord". Then I thought, "how inappropriate", because you are always with them (us). I tried to think of something appropriate to say and could not. So I didn't type anything and went about my prayers. Later while watching television, one of the characters in whatever I was watching at the time, said the same thing in a similar situation, "Be with them Lord". Then it hit me, out of the blue, like so many of the insights You send to me, the is why we need silent prayer. Whatever we say to You is so insignificant that the only thing that really makes sense is to offer You our time and just be with You. I'm not saying that our prayers are insignificant in that we shouldn't bother praying. What I mean is that You know all our needs, wants, and desires better than we do. When we pray verbally, I think it is only to remind ourselv...

Words of Chief Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux: “Upon suffering beyond suffering: The Red Nation shall rise again, and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again! I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole earth will become one circle again. In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am at that place within me, we shall be one.” Chief Crazy Horse spoke these words as he smoked the Sacred Chanupa (Pipe) for the last time with Chief Sitting Bull, four days before he crossed over to the Star Nation in 1877.

The media wasn't much interested in promoting Aboriginal Day although it is now government sanctioned as much as media wants to cooperate with celebrating power over the indigenous people of this part of the continent. I wonder.... Greetings to all, On this day when we are to celebration the great and rich heritage and culture of the aboriginal peoples, we, the members of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Algonquin First Nations, have become victims of a hate crime. I am deeply saddened by this - I have no words to describe the sorrow that my spirit and heart are carrying at this moment. My heart is wounded, but my spirit is not broken, I appeal to you for help. As a community member, as a mother, as a grandmother, to you my brothers and sisters in culture and spirit, I am seeking your help - sometime during the night, my community, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg has become the \victim of a hate crime, our Cultural Centre has been vandalized, with huge black paint swastika si...

in Downtown Eastside Vancouver National Aboriginal Solidarity Day 2007 Spirits Rising Memorial Society is honoured to announce the inaugural Love, Light and Healing Ceremony, which will be held at: 10:00 AM National Aboriginal Solidarity Day June 21st, 2007 Main & Hastings Streets Downtown Eastside Vancouver. Skiljaday Merle Williams, a Traditional Haida Healer, Teacher and Cranial-sacro Therapist who lives on Tsawwassen First Nation, was inspired to initiate the Love, Light and Healing Ceremony, in which Traditional Aboriginal Healers and Elders will join together to help to bring Love, Light and Healing to the area on the summer solstice. ‘Light Workers’ from all cultures, races, religions and creeds are welcome to participate in the spirit of unity. The Love Light and Healing Ceremony is one of many innovative and empowering educational initiatives of the Society, which includes The Missing Women’s Memorial Totem Project, a sixteen-week educational course design...

I am seeking individuals to participant in a study expanding on my doctoral research. The purpose of the study is to explore experiences of recovery from addiction. My dissertation research used a very small group of participants to explore the role of spirituality in recovery from addiction. This research is broader in the sense that it seeks to discover what factors play key roles in recovery and hopefully I can get a much larger group of participants. My dissertation is available online at: http://ca.geocities.com/marieco_research/Thesis.pdf I am requesting your help in circulating this request as widely as possible. Please review the questionnaire and if you are interested please complete the questionnaire, which can be accessed at: http://ca.geocities.com/marieco_research/questionnaire.pdf -- and/or pass it on to your networks. Thank you for your interest, Dr. Victoria Marie