~SisterSea~

A Letter to Tina

2011-01-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Tina,

Today was an extraordinary day full of (to coin a new oxymoron) ordinary miracles. It began with members from the different groups that form the local Catholic community. We came together to form two pilot small faith community leadership groups. After the six-week Discipleship Program, the members of the pilot group would act as the seed persons who bring together other members of the community to form groups that would work together through Lent. The meeting was followed by a lovely lasagne lunch.

Two old 1950s/1960s songs kept running through my head as I stood in a sun shower smoking a cigarette. I think it is the first time I have experienced a winter sun shower. As I gazed up at the trees, I saw a squirrel scrabbling up it. I immediately thought, Spring can’t be too far off. After all, I have seen several squirrels out and about this week.

Three of us were in my friend’s van as she drove down Main Street, ahead of us a strikingly well defined rainbow arched over North Vancouver. It was one of those “Wow!” moments that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

During the bus ride home, I started thinking of the things that I had accumulated that I loved but could find no way to use them in a way that did them justice. I also thought how blessed I am to finally have a chance to rectify that situation. Two beautiful china vases and the Turkey feather and feather case that you gave me are prime examples.

The vases were on a high shelf in my bedroom gathering dust for 12 years. Now they adorn my office filled with Lucky Bamboo. I wondered how I could use the Turkey feather. I thought of using it in our Friday night faith-sharing sessions but somehow this just did not fit. Then during an alternative therapy session, I had one of those eureka moments. It became clear to me that this beautiful feather would be used to help me in my healing practice. Thank you for this wonderful gift.

Today was one of those days when I felt so much gratitude for all the gifts in my life. I just have to say, that one of the most precious gifts was the blessing of having you in it. Although you are no longer with us in the visible world, you are with me in the feather, in the wearable artefacts that you made, and most of all in the wonderful memories that are engraved indelibly on my heart.

Love, blessings, and all good to you,

vikki

Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff

2010-11-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

War / No More Trouble

2010-08-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

2010-05-02T01:03:00.001-07:00

Winter Feast for the Soul

2010-01-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

January 15 - February 23, 2010

Last year over 10,000 people in at least 29 different countries participated in this worldwide event. The Dalai Lama has endorsed the Winter Feast for two years now and Deepak Chopra has added his endorsement to the list:

“Meditating forty minutes a day for forty days, as done in the Winter Feast for the Soul won’t just further one’s conscious evolution. Humanity will be at peace when enough individuals choose to make peace a part of their spiritual practice.” Deepak Chopra

The premise for the Winter Feast is that when people spend a block of time each day focusing inward they will discover there a source of inner peace. That peace, if shared by enough people will spread around the world. Founder, Valerie Skonie, of Hailey Idaho predicts that “a shift in our global consciousness will occur if enough people join us. That kind of shift translates into a new world order that includes wisdom and compassion for all beings.”

The initial inspiration for the Winter Feast came when Valerie read a three-line poem by a 13th Century mystic Jelaluddin Rumi:

What nine months does for the embryo
Forty early mornings
Will do for your growing awareness.

Spiritual practice can be defined as prayer, meditation, reading sacred texts, yoga, martial arts, and expressive arts. “We even had a woman who committed to singing for forty minutes a day last year,” reports Skonie.

Consider the stories of Noah, Elijah, Moses, Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed. Each spent forty days in retreat or contemplation. When these prophets returned from their inner journey, they had changed, and, in turn, their world had changed. “Now it is our turn to participate in this shift and not to look to our spiritual leaders to do it for us,” says Skonie.

You can learn more about the Winter Feast for the Soul 2010 by going to their website: http://www.winterfeastforthesoul.com

Downtown Eastside New Year's Frybread Giveaway

2010-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve 2008

2008-12-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

The Arrows of White Privilege

2008-11-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

By Victoria Marie

People of colour, close friends
Empathy, proclaimed
Yet, Joy unshared
Bring arrows of pain
To understand let us
Go back and see
What this old black woman
Saw as a child on TV

Policemen with dogs and hoses
Attack my people huddled
In defensive poses
Angry white crowds shouting, enraged
Because black children with theirs being schooled
While soldiers surround the black children
Protecting their right to what the Supreme Court ruled
Three young men missing, murdered
For helping Black people register to vote
With no one brought to justice
Until 30 years later, a sad footnote

Obama’s election, no big deal to you
Full citizenship has always been your right
However, for people of colour, sometimes
Just to stay sane is a fight
“You can grow up to be president”
They tell us in school, but black students face
The constricting clarifying message
“President, not people of your race.”
So you see, it’s not that he will
Make all the nation’s problems go away
But millions of Black Americans
Full citizenship became reality that November day

November 5, 2008

COLOMBIA REFLECTION: Where things are worth more than people

2008-03-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

CPTnet
22 March 2008

by Julian Gutierrez Castaño

Translated by Michele Braley

"…¿Adónde van los desaparecidos?
Busca en el agua y en los matorrales.
¿Y por qué es que se desaparecen?
Porque no todos somos iguales.

("Where have the disappeared gone?
Look in the water and in the brush.
And why do they disappear?
Because we are not all equal ...")

The sun warmed Washington, D.C. as did the colorful crowd that gathered in Dupont Plaza on 6 March 2008—an unusually balmy day. The Colombians, and the usual crowd of sympathetic "gringo" human rights activists, carried signs depicting the plight of the victims of the armed conflict that has plagued Colombia since the late 1940s.

A unionist displaced by the political right that holds power in Colombia gave testimony. So did the daughter of one of the many victims who were not supposed to proclaim that in Colombia inequality is perpetuated by the State, that the people are devoured by alligators (the state security forces) and crocodiles (paramilitaries), and, as if this were not enough, the people have to walk with care so to not be bitten by a snake (the guerrillas.)

Between the speeches of the unionist and the young woman, onto the stage jumped Negra Lucy. Into the midst of the collective sadness and the silence of hearts broken by so much injustice, she began to sing "Desapariciones" (Disappearances). She sang with Spanish of those who do not speak it as their first language, but with the astute melody of those who centuries ago found singing to be a door to freedom.

We closed with a minute of silence. I held the photo of the person I identify with most, Manuel Gustavo Chacon, the former trade unionist, poet, musician, and freethinker, who was assassinated thirty years ago in Barrancabermeja.

But my heart and my mind were in other locations, or perhaps Chacon took me to those places. During that minute of silence, I toured the Opón River and visited every family that has suffered displacement, murder, or the disappearance of a loved one. I toured the communities of Micoahumado and Tiquisio, who despite the murders of their sisters and brothers still demand the right to self-determination. I remembered the crimes of the Army and the FARC against the Awa people. I remembered Teofilo Acuna and Alejandro Uribe of the Southern Bolivar Agricultural-Mining Federation, displaced, and murdered, respectively, for defending their communities from the voracity of the multinational Anglo Gold Ashanti.

And I cried for this daily tragedy of broken dreams and brutality that we live in Colombia and in every corner of the earth where things are worth more than people—where things become a reason to annihilate us.

"… ¿Y cuándo vuelve el desaparecido?
Cada vez que los trae el pensamiento.
¿Cómo se le habla al desaparecido?
Con la emoción apretando por dentro…"

("… And when will the disappeared return?
Every time a thought brings them.
How do you speak to the disappeared?
With emotion squeezing you from inside… ")

Desapariciones, Ruben Blades

Where Is The Justice?

2008-02-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

Kingston, Ontario

February 15, 2008

Kingston Regional Police took Bob Lovelace away from the courthouse in handcuffs this morning to serve a six month sentence on a contempt of court charge handed down by Justice Douglas Cunningham. Lovelace, age fifty-nine, is an ex-chief and spokesperson for the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN). He is also father to seven children and an instructor at Queen’s University and Sir Sandford Fleming Community College. Justice Cunningham imposed a fine of $25,000 on Lovelace and $10,000 on his community.

Lovelace said “I am in a dilemma. I want to obey Canadian law but Algonquin law instructs me that I must preserve Creation. I must follow Algonquin law.” Judge Cunningham in his sentencing said, “There can only be one law – the law of Canada as expressed in this court.”

Co-chief Paula Sherman and Honorary Chief Harold Perry agreed to abide by the terms of an injunction which forbids them from blocking Frontenac Ventures Ltd from drilling test holes on the site or encouraging others to do so. In this way they avoided Bob Lovelace’s fate. “I want to be with Bob” said Harold “but my community does not want me to do this”. Perry is age seventy-eight and has heart problems while Paula Sherman is a single parent.

Earlier in the hearing Chief Doreen Davis and Earl Badour of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation agreed to abide by the terms of the injunction of September 27, 2007. They must reappear in court on March 18, 2008.

Chris Reid, lawyer for AAFN, noted that there were other options available to the involved parties which would have prevented this outcome. The Province of Ontario could have removed the claimed land from the lands available to be staked and explored. Further, he observed “The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that all provinces have a duty to consult with First Nations who have even a weak claim on land before they permit any development. Ontario has not consulted with any Algonquin band about this claim”.

Christian Peacemaker Teams laments the unjust actions of Justice Cunningham and the government of Ontario. We fear that the actions of the court and the government are leading this province down the road of confrontation that will inevitably lead to more suffering, injustice and bloodshed for Aboriginal Peoples. We beg Premier McGuinty to intervene and change course, to choose instead to work towards a just relationship with Aboriginal Peoples.

- 30 -

Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada
Équipes Chrétiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
25 Cecil St Unit 307
Toronto ON M5T 1N1
Tel: 416-423-5525; Fax: 416-423-7140
canada@cpt.org
www.cpt.org

Indigenous Peoples' Voice Censured at UN

2008-02-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 14, 2008
PRESS RELEASE - English

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' VOICE CENSURED AT UNITED NATIONS

Rome, Feb. 14, 2008 - This morning Indigenous Peoples' representatives formally withdrew from the Working Group on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity to protest their exclusion from this meeting held at FAO headquarters in the Italian capital. Before leaving the plenary, Indigenous leaders put on symbolic gags and held up protest signs. After Jannie Lasimbang of the Kudasan People of Malaysia read a statement, the indigenous delegation and some Non-Governmental Organizations left the meeting which was suspended upon their departure.

The Indigenous Peoples' statement read: "Mr. Chairman, we have made great efforts to be part of this process. However, it is with great disappointment that from the very beginning of this Working Group on Protected Areas meeting we have found ourselves marginalized and without opportunity to take the floor in a timely manner to express our points of view. Yesterday afternoon at a critical moment, we were silenced from providing our contributions to the deliberations on the recommendations on implementation of the Programme of Work. Furthermore, Mr. Chairman, despite your assurances that all recommendations would be included in the Conference Room Paper (CRP), none of our recommendations were included in CRP2. This is extremely disturbing in light of the relevance of these recommendations to our lives, lands and the effective implementation of the Programme of Work.

"We denounce the denial of Indigenous Peoples' right to full an affective participation which contravenes prior decisions of the Parties," said Onel Masardule y Jannie Lasimbang, Co-Chairs of the Indigenous Peoples' Committee on Conservation of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity which is made up of indigenous leaders from Asia, Africa, Russia, the Pacific, North America and Latin America.

The protest was supported by many NGOs attending the UN meeting who also criticized the negative attitude of the Chair of the Working Group and the collapse of the political space for dialogue. The Indigenous Women's Biodiversity Network warned "that the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples not only endangers the democratic processes in the United Nations but also ignores that the General Assembly just approved the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007."

Contacts:
Mrinalini Rai, mrinalini_rai@yahoo.com
Hortencia Hidalgo - Ramiro BatzinComunicación FIIB Email
comunicacionfiib@gmail.com

More background including entire Statement presented at Plenary February 14, 2008:
http://www.indigenousstatement.blogspot.com/

Tar Sands & Water - A

2008-02-16T17:15:00.001-08:00

Tar Sands & Water - B

2008-02-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

Eli Painted Crow - Voices of Women Veterans

2008-01-25T16:24:00.000-08:00

Turtle Women Rising are needed in Washington D.C. on October 10-13 2008 in front of the White House. Bring your drums, prayers, and your songs. For more information, please visit: Turtle Women Rising

Urgent: U.S. Homeland Security preparing to seize Apache lands

2008-01-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

In violation of United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People the U.S. government plans to forcibly take land from the Lipan Apache people to construct a fence and levee to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S. border. The following is a letter from Margo Tamez, the daughter of a family being threatened by agents of the U.S. government.

Dear Relatives,

I wish I was writing under better circumstances, but I must be fast and direct.

My mother and elders of El Calaboz, since July have been the targets of numerous threats and harassments by the Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, National Security Agency (NSA), and other U.S. government agents who want to put a fence on their levee on Apache land.

Since July, they have been the targets of numerous telephone calls, unexpected and uninvited visits. The agents informed the Apache that they will have to relinquish parts of their land grant holdings to the border fence buildup. The NSA demands that elders give up their lands to build the levee, and further, that they travel a distance of 3 miles, to go through checkpoints, to walk, farm, and herd goats and cattle, on their own lands!

This threat against indigenous people, life ways and lands has been very very serious and stress inducing to local leaders, such as Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, who has been in isolation from the larger indigenous rights community due to the invisibility of indigenous people of South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas to the larger social justice conversation regarding the border issues.

However recent events, of the last 5 days cause us to feel that we are in urgent need of immediate human rights observers in the area, deployed by all who can help as soon as possible--immediate relief.

My mother informed me, as I got back into cell range out of Redford, TX, on Monday, November 13, that Army Corps of Engineers, Border Patrol and National Security Agency teams have been going house to house, and calling on her personal office phone, her cell phone and in other venues, tracking down and enclosing upon the people and telling them that they have no other choice in this matter. They are telling elders and other vulnerable people that "the wall is going on these lands whether you like it or not, and you have to sell your land to the U.S."

My mother, Eloisa Garcia Tamez, Lipan Apache is resisting the forced occupation with firm resistance. She has already had two major confrontations with NSA since July--one in her office at the University of Texas at Brownsville, where she is the Director of a Nursing Program and where she conducts research on diabetes among indigenous people of the MX-US binational region of South Texas and Tamaulipas.

She reports that some land owners in the Rancheria area of El Calaboz, La Paloma and El Ranchito, under pressure to sell to the U.S. without prior and informed consent, have already signed over their lands, due to their ongoing state of impoverishment and exploitation in the area under colonization, corporatism, NAFTA and militarization.

This is an outrage, but more, this is a significant violation of United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People, recently ratified and accepted by all UN nations, except the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Furthermore, it is a violation of the United Nations CERD, Committee on Elimination of Racism and Racial Discrimination.

My mother is under great stress and crisis, unknowing if the Army soldiers and the NSA agents will be forcibly demanding that she sign documents. She reports that they are calling her at all hours, seven days a week. She has firmly told them not to call her anymore, nor to call her at all hours of the night and day, nor to call on the weekends any further. She asked them to meet with her in a public space and to tell their supervisors to come. They refuse to do so. Instead, they continue to harass and intimidate.

At this time, due to the great stress the elders are currently under, communicated to me, because they are being demanded under covert tactics, to relinquish indigenous lands, I feel that I MUST call upon my relatives, friends, colleagues, especially associates in Texas within driving distance to the Rio Grande valley region, and involved in indigenous rights issues, to come forth and aid us.

Please! Please help indigenous women land title holders resisting forced occupation in their own lands! Please do not hesitate to forward this to people in your own networks in media, journalism, social and environmental justice, human rights, indigenous rights advocacy and public health watch groups!

Margo Tamez mtamez@wsu.edu

Save Our Rivers

2007-11-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Coalition Against Uranium Mining at Robertsville Mine

2007-10-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

Algonquin Blockade Ends, Mediation Begins

2007-10-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

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 Ontario Mining Act to carry out exploratory drilling on sixty square kilometers of unceded Algonquin land. The Algonquins have never surrendered title to lands they have inhabited from time immemorial. The Royal Proclamation Act of 1763 and the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 enshrine Aboriginal title in Canadian law.

Neither FV nor the Ontario government consulted with the Algonquin people before FV began its uranium exploration program. Canadian court decisions dating back seventeen years have ruled governments must consult indigenous peoples and accommodate their concerns before undertaking resource exploitation projects on their territories. This duty to consult exists even when title to the land is in dispute. Canadian courts have also ruled that where the potential harm to indigenous rights is serious, governments should proceed only with the consent of the affected peoples.

An open-pit uranium mine would release toxic radon gas and polonium and leave behind millions of tonnes of radioactive tailings that will permanently pollute groundwater. In its 23 June 2007 Statement on Uranium Mining, the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation asserted, "Uranium mining will lead directly to our social, spiritual, and cultural demise, as our collective identity--requires a continual relationship with the land . . .We do not have the option that FVC has to pack up and leave once their destruction of our lands is complete." (See http://www.aafna.ca/Uranium_mining.html.) . According to the mediation agreement, the Algonquins will allow FV to continue with some exploratory work, but it cannot do any drilling. The court has appointed an independent monitor to verify FV's compliance and has allowed a period of twelve weeks for the mediation.

CPT maintains that this land-use dispute is rooted in the Canadian government's historic neglect of legitimate Algonquin land and national sovereignty claims, and the unconstitutionality of the Ontario Mining Act. (The Mining Act makes no provision for consulting First Nations communities.) A mediation process that addresses the root causes of this conflict is a positive step towards resolving a long-standing injustice.

CPT sent a team to the blockade site on 3 September 2007. CPT conducted two non-violence trainings, attended court proceedings, organized a letter-writing campaign to OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, and maintained a presence at the blockade site. CPT will continue to follow developments related to the dispute closely.

Pink - Dear Mr. President - Live

2007-10-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Struggle Against a Uranium Mine

2007-10-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

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 are supporting the blockade.

Several weeks ago Christian Peacemaker Teams sent a team at the blockade. I joined the team for a week on September 16. Tents and trailers are set along the road and just inside the gates of the property. People come when they have days off work to be part of the blockade. When they go back home, they leave their tents and trailers for others to use. A circle of some 20 chairs is drawn up around an open fire in front of the gate. People come and go, bring coffee and snacks, and stop awhile to get news about the latest court actions. Inside the gates, generators provide power to run a kitchen and keep freezers cold. Those freezers are stocked with food donated by hundreds of supporters.

On Saturday, September 22, a flotilla of canoes set off from the Village of Ardoch on Mud Lake to paddle down the Mississippi River to Ottawa. About 100 people gathered in front of a cairn commemorating the efforts of Algonquin Chief Harold Perry's efforts to save the wild rice in Mud Lake from destruction in the 1980s. Algonquin Grand Chief and Grandfather of all Grandfathers William Camanda from Maniwaki Quebec performed some pipe and smudging ceremonies with sweet grass and sage. Two young women, Corrie and Jill, filled two mason jars with clear water from Mud Lake to be presented to the people of Ottawa as a sign of what is threatened by uranium mining. Several Algonquin drummers beat out a travelling song on the big drum. Harold Perry, now a wiry 77-years-old, slid a canoe that he himself had made into the water, leading the way to Ottawa.

We often hear stories from around the world of farmers and indigenous people trying to protect their lands from miners, loggers, and other resource extractors. In Frontenac County I have now experienced that same struggle.

Allan Slater

Is British Columbia Nigeria North?

2007-09-30T02:39:00.000-07:00

Shell methane project in Sacred Headwaters triggers Financial Times ad

2007-09-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

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 First Nation blockaded the main access road into the Sacred Headwaters, preventing Shell from resuming its drilling program. Shell applied for a court injunction against the blockade, but later postponed its application.

On August 31, hundreds of concerned citizens in Vancouver and Smithers protested Shell’s coal bed methane project in the Sacred Headwaters.

For more information, contact:

Go to http://www.sacredheadwaters.com/

Or call

Lisa Matthaus, Sierra Club BC: (250) 888-6267

Will Horter, Dogwood Initiative: (250) 370-9930

Merran Smith, ForestEthics: (250) 847-5869

David MacKinnon, Rivers Without Borders:

(867) 668-5098

Sacred Headwaters Rally

2007-09-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

Native Rights Rally in Queen's Park

2007-09-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

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 Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN.) NAN represents forty-nine First Nations communities, covering two-thirds of Ontario. KI Councillor and Spokesperson John Cutfeet addressed the gathering.

The public witness included the laying of 107 ribbons--one for each electoral riding (district) in Ontario--as a symbolic call for candidates to remember and honour Ontario's historic treaty commitments to indigenous people.

Located in northwestern Ontario, Grassy Narrows is maintaining the longest standing blockade in Canadian history to stop Abitibi Consolidated from clear-cutting their traditional land use area. CPT accompanied the Grassy Narrows blockade from its beginning in December 2002 until the summer of 2004. A RAN boycott campaign targeting Weyerhauser, the principal buyer of softwood fibre taken from Grassy Narrows territory, has resulted in the high-profile appointment of former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci to negotiate land use issues between Grassy Narrows and the government of Ontario. However, the province has yet to abide by the moratorium against clearcutting issued by Grassy Narrows in February of this year. (See www.freegrassy.org for more information.)

The Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin First Nations have been blockading an access road on their unceded territory since June 28, 2007 in order to stop Frontenac Ventures from uranium mine exploration. A court injunction against the blockade of the road--located an hour north of Kingston, ON--was served on 31 August 2007. CPT has maintained a presence at the blockade since Labour Day. Police charged seven people with violating the injunction on 18 September 2007, among them CPTer David Milne.

(See http://www.aafna.ca for more information.)

In February 2006, the Ontario Government granted permission for Platinex Inc. to drill for diamonds in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) territory.

A fly-in community located 600 km north of Sioux Lookout, Ontario, KI is challenging the constitutionality of the Ontario Mining Act on the grounds that it privileges mining interests over Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, which is a violation of section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. (See http://tinyurl.com/2wdnyn for more information.)

Photos of the action are available

http://flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/sets/72157602110960221

Who's Really on Trial Here?

2007-09-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

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 Frontenac Ventures against the gate closing was read in front of the gate, but no one heard it: native drummers and settler singers drowned out the sheriff's voice. Since then, the Alonquins and their supporters have been afraid the police will enforce the injunction in spite of the frequent presence of unarmed, plain-clothed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) liaison officers pursuing a negotiated settlement to the impasse. The OPP liaison projects are a direct result of the Ipperwash Inquiry into the death of a native person, Dudley George, in another such occupation.

In court, OPP officers named those they had observed inside the gate following the reading of the injunction. Harold was amongst them. Frontenac Ventures subpoenaed one of the liaison officers. When asked to name those he had observed inside the gate, he stated, "My role was one of mediation, not intelligence gathering, and I made no notes of who was or was not inside the gate."

Robert Lovelace, a former AAFN chief, said at the end of hearing, "The fact that a liaison officer can be required to testify in court greatly undermines the credibility of these new OPP initiatives.”

Over the lunch break, Harold and other Algonquins in attendance asked their lawyers to tell the court that they were not disputing their presence inside the gate in order to hasten a court trial where arguments for the justice of their actions could be heard. The issue is about who actually owns the land, not whether they are inside the gate or not.

Christian Peacemaker David Milne added his name to the list and the lawyers for Frontenac Ventures insisted that a settler instrumental in the resistance to uranium mining add his name as well. The judge accepted the request and set September 24 as the day to set date for trial.

But the question is who really is on trial: the Algonquins and their supporters resisting the ravages of uranium mining, or the federal and provincial governments careless enough to issue permits on lands in the midst of treaty claims?

Let us pray that the new judge will preside over a court of justice rather than a court of law, since the laws of Ontario are not in accord with a just stance towards our Aboriginal sisters and brothers.

Making a Stand at Desert Rock

2007-09-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

An Alternate Route To Social Justice

2007-09-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

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 long but uncelebrated history within the Roman Catholic Church. Along with those who accept the status quo of the wider society, there have been individuals and movements whose works went counter to the prevailing attitudes in the church and in society. In recent history, liberation theologians and practitioners are one but not the only example. In this paper, I will discuss two theological traditions which influence my research interests: The Franciscan Movement initiated by Francis of Assisi and the Catholic Worker Movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. These movements share philosophical egalitarian perspectives concretely expressed in that each practiced, as much as possible for their time, equality between the sexes and an absence of race-based exclusion. There is an example of Franciscan inclusivity as early as the sixteenth century. Saint Benedict the Black, born 1526 and died in 1589, was appointed superior of his friary in Palermo. In North America, St. Benedict is almost a secret except among Black Catholics. However, he is celebrated in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Latin American. Although I have only recently become familiar with Franciscan history, I have always been deeply influenced by the spiritual tradition of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, succinctly called, Franciscan spirituality.

Spirituality, according to Perrin & McDermott (1997) is “an individual’s philosophy, value, and meaning of life” (p. 1). Of significance here is the concept of spirituality as the basic value around which all other values are focused, the central philosophy of life, which guides a person’s conduct (Perrin & McDermott, 1997, p. 7). One tenet of Franciscan spirituality is that even when marginalized, we are all challenged to become the person God has called us to be and to help others to do the same. I live and work in the Vancouver’s inner city. I see and have come to know people with addictions as people, not statistics or problems. As a recovering alcoholic, I know the difficulty involved in trying to stop the slow suicide of addiction.

When we think of the addict as morally bankrupt it allows us to forget that we are a society that bankrupts its citizens through the bottom-line thinking that has mesmerized us. We have no respect, room or tolerance for our visionaries, dreamers, artists and healers unless we can put a price on their visions, dreams, art and healing strategies. We start killing them as soon as they start school. We let corporate money and business decide what our society’s educational and social needs are. Instead of letting people become who God intended them to be, we dictate what they should become according to Market forces. Thea Bowman, an African American Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, said,

Some people are taught that they are superior, some that they are inferior. Many of us have internalized racist, materialistic and elitist values and assumptions. But I think we have within ourselves the power to reevaluate those assumptions.. . . .It is important to say to your child every day "You're somebody special because you're God's child." And say to your wife or husband, "You're God's gift to me and I really, really, really love you." . . . [Thea] encourages teachers to have their students display their baby pictures on the bulletin board as "heroes and she-roes of the future." Whatever will boost the children’s self-image will go a long way toward equipping them to be leaders in the community (Bowman in Jones, 1988, p. 4).

It was in this context of theology and spirituality that I became aware of issues of social justice. Hence, my motivation in working for social justice is theologically based.

I am no stranger to oppression and marginalization. Like Lange (2000) who sought to find a way to bring the ideas of liberation theology to middle-class Canadians and Zarowny (1992), I recognize the need for a homemade theology of liberation. Zarowny writes:

To borrow Megan McKenna’s analogy of liberation theology as “theology done from the perspective of Job’s dung-heap,” we had tried to borrow the dung-heap of Central America’s majority rather than use our own Canadian dung-heap as the perspective through which to gain guidance and sustenance from Jesus’ teachings (Zarowny, 1992, p. 391).

Similarly, feminist standpoint theory advises that feminist theorizing cannot and should not be done as if coming from one location. These two streams of thought, feminist standpoint theory and theology of liberation, advocate that the work one does should contribute to a change in society by the identification, acknowledgement, and an effort to reduce power differences and by working in solidarity with rather than doing research on those relegated to the periphery of mainstream society. In this context, I see no contradiction between feminist thought and a theology of liberation. I situate myself as being influenced by both perspectives in my research project choices. For me, a theology of liberation occurs at the confluence of the Catholic Worker Movement and Franciscan spirituality. My position may be clarified by the following brief description of the Catholic Worker Movement and my participation in it.

The Catholic Worker Movement was founded in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Dorothy Day was a journalist involved in the women’s suffrage movement. She was influenced by the Communist philosophy. Day was a pacifist and a supporter of workers’ rights. Day’s common law husband abandoned her when she had their daughter baptized. Soon after, she converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1933, she met Peter Maurin, who introduced her to Catholic social teachings. Maurin advocated “roundtable discussions for the clarification of thought”, “houses of hospitality” an idea based on early and medieval Christian hospices; and “agronomic universities” or farming communes where workers could learn and professors could work (Ellis, 1988). These three ideals became the foundation of the Catholic Worker Movement. At the same time, the Catholic Worker Movement is dedicated to the social justice interpretation of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Worker tradition emphasizes orthopraxy (right practice or right actions) as the expression of orthodoxy (right belief). The members of this movement are not necessarily Catholic or Christian. Hence orthodoxy here means respecting everyone because of the imprint of the Creator on all of creation. For Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, the reason to get involved and the solution to social problems is love and must therefore be rooted in love.

I am a founding and resident member of the Vancouver Catholic Worker. The Vancouver Catholic Worker, in keeping with Catholic Worker tradition offers hospitality —in the form of food, clothing, shelter and friendship —to those who need it; holds roundtable discussions; and has an urban communal “farm” in lieu of an agronomic university.

Smith (2001) compares the Catholic Worker movement and liberation theology stating, “Liberation theology speaks of freedom for the oppressed; the Catholic Worker calls us to voluntary poverty, service and work” (Smith, 2001, p. 163). Smith’s comparison needs modification in that not all adherents of liberation theology are oppressed nor are all Catholic Workers poor voluntarily. Smith advises that those in the first world who appreciate liberation theology and would like to become involved, need look no further than their local Catholic Worker community (Smith, 2001, p. 164).

Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin were greatly influenced by Saint Francis of Assisi. Before his conversion, Francis found lepers abhorrent and went out of his way to avoid them. Shortly after his conversion, Francis encountered a leper who was begging for alms. He braced himself, determined to treat the leper as the suffering Christ personified, and gave the leper the kiss of peace. Francis describes the experience in these words: “that which seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of soul and body” (Assisi & Assisi, 1982, p. 154). I relate this story because it illustrates the fundamental aim of the Catholic Worker Movement and Franciscan spirituality which is to learn how to sincerely embrace the leper.

Those with a history of substance abuse, who participate in the sex trade, or are otherwise marginalized by extreme poverty and homelessness, are the “lepers” of modern, mainstream society. Analogously, the marginalized of today are treated as outcasts of society just as actual lepers were in former times. As one who has a history of substance abuse, in addition to being a woman of African descent, marginalization is not foreign territory. Franciscan spirituality, the Catholic Worker Movement, and liberation theology build on and reinforce each other, resulting in a radical theological perspective that challenges the comfortable in the Church, and society in general.

Bibliography

Assisi, Saint Francis of, & Assisi, Saint Clare of. (1982). Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (R. J. Armstrong OFM Cap & I. C. Brady OFM, Trans.). Toronto: Paulist Press.

Ellis, M. (1988). Peter Maurin: To Bring the Social Order to Christ - Part 1. In P. G. Coy (Ed.), A Revolution of the Heart: Essays on the Catholic Worker (pp. 15-46). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. http://www.catholicworker.org/roundtable/pmlegacytext.cfm?Number=65.

Jones, A. (1988). She Sings a Ululu Story That Began in Africa. National Catholic Reporter, pp. 4.

Lynch OFM, C. J. (1998). Earlier Rule of St. Francis of Assisi. In O. Cyprian J. Lynch (Ed.), An Anthology of Franciscan Poverty. St. Bonaventure: The Franciscan Institute.

Perrin, K. M., & McDermott, R. J. (1997). The spiritual dimension of health: A review. American Journal of Health Studies, 13(2), 90. 9710272768.

Smith, M. R. (2001). The Catholic Worker Movement: Toward a Theology of Liberation for First World Disciples. In W. Thorn & P. Runkel & S. Mountin (Eds.), Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement: Centenary essays (Vol. 32). Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.

Zarowny, Y. (1992). Liberation Theology in a Canadian Context: A Case Study, Liberation Theology and Sociopolitical Transformation: A reader. Burnaby: Institute for the Humanities Simon Fraser University.

CPT Sends Team to First Nations Blockade

2007-09-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

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 Canada’s constitution in 1982.

Frontenac Ventures has undertaken a two year, 3.5 million dollar exploration program without the consent of the Ardoch and Shabot communities. Open pit uranium mining could occur if Frontenac determines that exploiting the uranium deposit is economically feasible.

The Ardoch and Shabot First Nations are calling for the end of all mining exploration, staking and drilling by Frontenac.

The environmental consequences of uranium mining include the contamination of ground water with heavy metals and radioactive materials, the dispersal of radioactive dust and the release of radioactive gases into the atmosphere. Once the uranium ore is processed, 85% of the radioactivity remains in the tailings which must then be managed for hundreds of thousands of years.

Local, non-aboriginal opposition to uranium exploration is fierce. Over two hundred local residents gathered with an hour’s notice to drown out the reading of the injunction. Community action groups have been organizing petitions, letter-writing campaigns, and even a tax revolt. People have been bringing food to the blockade on a daily basis since it began on June 28.

For more information, go to the Ardoch website: http://www.aafna.ca/.

Greenpeace report reveals high profile companies buying Boreal Forest destruction

2007-09-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

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's Boreal Forest."

The report, Consuming Canada's Boreal Forest: The chain of destruction from logging companies to consumers, calls for action from the international marketplace to protect one of the largest ancient forests left on Earth. It also condemns the governments of Ontario and Quebec, where less than nine and five per cent of the forest, respectively, is protected from industrial development.

"We expect customers of these logging companies to temporarily suspend their multi-million dollar contracts until action is taken on the ground to protect the forest and end destructive logging," added Fry. "We are looking to the marketplace to transform this situation."

In addition to environmental destruction-including forest fragmentation, climate impacts and loss of wildlife habitat and ecosystem biodiversity-the report also highlights Abitibi-Consolidated's refusal to end operations in the traditional territory of Grassy Narrows First Nation, despite a longstanding blockade against logging.

Canada's Boreal Forest stretches across the north of the country, from Newfoundland to the Yukon. It represents a quarter of the world's remaining intact ancient forests and stores 47.5 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and trees. Less than 15 per cent of the Boreal Forest in Quebec and 18 per cent in Ontario remains intact. More than 68 per cent of the area managed by the three logging companies has already been degraded or destroyed.

The backgrounder can be downloaded at

http://usaphoto.greenpeace.org/chainofdestruction/CoD%20backgrounder.pdf

The report can be downloaded at

http://usaphoto.greenpeace.org/chainofdestruction/consuming-the-boreal-forest-t.pdf

For further information: Kim Fry, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner, (416) 406-0664; Jane Story, Greenpeace Communications, (416) 930-9055

Chit-chat

2007-09-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

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 because I could not understand the inconsistencies between the teachings and the actions of the teachers. However, as I looked for a spiritual home, I found that the people of God are those who try to do what they feel God is calling them to do. The Spirit blows where S/He wills. The hierarchy of the Church may try to legislate where that is but the Spirit of the Creator is in all of creation, every one, every thing. Therefore, I stay in the Church because (1) that is where the inner-city community that I worship with nourishes my soul; (2) I believe in Jesus Christ and his message; (3) there are a lot of good people in the church as a whole; (4) I can do a lot of good by staying; and, (5) one cannot escape eurocentricity in North America.

The second is in relation to your comment about teaching children. While you may have had the option of not deciding who was "white, coloured or black," the children of colour did not have the same option. Skin colour has definite consequences for those who are not "white" in North American Society. When you deny colour, you deny that person's lived experiences. White people go into stores, no matter whether it is an economy store or one that sells exclusive goods, with no problem. A person of colour goes into the same stores and they are followed, given unwelcoming looks, and made to feel generally uncomfortable. I use this example because it is a mundane, everyday thing – shopping, something one has to do. Imagine the wear and tear on a child's psyche with several of these experiences each week. Then there's school where you learn that your people are "social problems." All positive contributions of your people to society are glaringly absent from the history books. Therefore you never learn that your people have done anything but "burden" society. This is the reality of being "Black, Native American or Hispanic" in Canada and the United States. Thankfully, our peoples are beginning to demand more of a say in education. We are no longer being silenced by the ploy of being called "over-sensitive" because denying our experiences and our pain has been killing us and we wish to heal, to live and to thrive.

Kaaren, Anishinaabe grandmother, – Thank you for this writing. It is really right on. In a book entitled "This Bridge Called my Back," a collection of writings by women of colour, one author says that it is not the duty of the oppressed to educate their oppressors. It amazes me that we people of non-white colour still have to step up to that position if any educating gets done. It will be a great day when white people make these observations publically. It is precisely part of unearned and invisible white privilege that this does not happen. That great day will be here when, as Hugh Vasques says in "The Colour of Fear," white people are "as outraged about racism as I am outraged about racism, as black people are outraged, as Asians are outraged, as Indians are outraged." I will add that, for me, that day will be here when I see or hear white people being outraged just about unearned and invisible privileges.

Algonquin Alliance Statement Against Uranium Exploration and Mining

2007-09-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

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 granted access to the site and land surrounding the site by the MNR, Mining and Northern Development and private owners. At no time did any of these ministries or private owners contact or secure permission from Algonquin people to use the lands or resources in question. In fact, while Algonquin people in the area had heard rumours of a proposed uranium mine in Frontenac County, we were not aware of the plans to develop a mine on our traditional territory until Gloria Morrison, a private land owner in the region, attended a council meeting and asked for the Ardoch Algonquin council’s help in protecting her property. Gloria came to the meeting because 60 acres of her 100 acre holding had been staked by Frontenac Ventures under the Mining Act. She had exhausted all other alternatives at that point and hoped that Algonquin people could help her as she understood that the land she had purchased was in the historical territory of Algonquin people.

As already mentioned the overall purpose of the Algonquin alliance is to prohibit access to the site and any proposed drilling within and around the site and all associated sites. This includes sites that are privately owned and leased to Frontenac Ventures Corporation as this usage is against the Original Teachings and Guiding Principles which provide the guidance necessary to live within Mino-Pimaadiziwin (which means to live the good life, in a balanced way that promotes the sustainability of the Natural World and all living entities). The alliance is using a four-pronged approach to dealing with uranium exploration and mining which includes education of the larger community on the dangers of uranium exploration and mining and direct action in various locations in Algonquin territory to bring local, national and international attention to the issue. The two Algonquin communities who make up this alliance are also concerned with their responsibility as Anishinaabe people to examine prior usage of the land and resources by all users who have been granted access by the province of Ontario. Part of that strategy is to develop sound mechanisms for restoring balance to the land and waterways that have been impacted by their activities on the land and also create protocols of interaction that can be used with future users so that the same mistakes do not occur again.

The alliance also has to deal with the other users who were granted access to our territory through the province. One such user is MREL. MREL is a company that has moved heavily into the defence and security industry, and in particular the development of a range of vehicle disrupters which are used to neutralize improvised explosive devises and bomb laden vehicles, placed in anything from regular automobiles up to tractor trailer sized trucks. The units are robot deployed and designed to minimize collateral damage. The thrust of their work is humanitarian with an emphasis on saving lives, both by countering the threat of bombs in the civilian community, as well as to improve the defence capability of Canadian troops.

As MREL’s current contract is designed to save lives, and not connected to the drilling of core samples or uranium mining, the alliance has made the decision to permit MREL to enter the site under a memorandum of understanding between MREL and Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations. The memorandum of understanding will cover only the current project related to their research on vehicle disrupters. It will cover the nature of required clean-up from previous MREL work, set out the protocols for relating to the land in a way that promotes balanced relationships with the land and waterscapes, while also enabling MREL to complete the project in the designated timeframe. Any other usage of the site by MREL would have to be renegotiated. The MOU will also address the issue of securing the site while MREL is conducting their research. MREL has also come out openly against George While and Frontenac Ventures Corporation and has provided the alliance with numerous documents, maps, and correspondence that supports our position against uranium mining.

The alliance is also concerned with a new tendency on the part of some individuals to treat this site as a tourist attraction. The articulation of our autonomy here is a serious issue for both Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and for Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation. We have secured the area for the sole purpose of preventing the drilling of core samples which would lead to the development of a uranium mine on our traditional territory. Securing the area means literally keeping everyone out unless they have been invited to enter at the main gate where the encampment is located. This policy is necessary to secure the safety of everyone, inside and outside the gate. The entire parameter has been secured through the use of warriors to prevent access to Frontenac Venture Corporation and no one should enter the site as you could be seen as working for FVC. This encampment and occupation of the surrounding land and watersheds is part of an ongoing resistance on the part of these two First Nations to resist the attempts of Frontenac Ventures Corporation to drill core samples, it should respectfully not be treated as a tourist attraction.

The Algonquin alliance and resistance force is being assisted by CCAMU, Mining Watch, and other environmental and citizenship groups who are opposed to uranium mining. Many of the individuals involved in the various groups have had their own property staked under the Mining Act by Frontenac Ventures Corporation. While Algonquin people are concentrating on direct actions that articulate our autonomy in the valley of the Kiji Sìbì (which is a necessary component in the overall efforts to prevent uranium exploration and mining on our traditional lands), our non-Aboriginal friends and neighbours have renewed ancient relationships with the Algonquin people and communities here and have taken up once again their side of the wampum belt that was neglected long ago by their ancestors. Their efforts to create and disperse important information on the Mining Act and impacts of uranium mining have gone a long way in gaining outside support for our struggle to stop Frontenac in their tracks. Our non-Aboriginal neighbours have also created a network of support for the Algonquin and other Aboriginal communities who remain on the site behind the gate. This network of concerned friends and neighbours have taken it upon themselves to make sure that the people who remain there have the food, supplies, and necessities needed to maintain the occupation until a positive resolution can be achieved. Both Algonquin communities, as well as the other Aboriginal people at the site greatly appreciate the dedication and sacrifices made by everyone who has supported and continues to support our efforts to stop the proposed uranium exploration and mining on Algonquin land and that of our neighbours.

Direct Action
The alliance has taken several direct actions in the past few weeks to draw attention to the issue including two protest marches down Highway 7 in Sharbot Lake. The next direct action will take place on July 28 in Perth. Those wishing to participate in the action should meet at the lot behind Wendys at 3pm. This particular action will take place at two spots on Highway 7. There will be pylons inserted into the middle of the road to slow it down to two lanes. We will be setting up information tolls at each end of Perth on Highway 7. Cars will be allowed to travel but at a much slower pace which will permit us to provide info on the issue and also ask for donations which are needed to sustain the resistance force at the site and to pay for legal fees. We will need volunteers to stand at each end of the highway with picket signs and eight people to work the information toll. We will maintain the information toll from 3pm-6pm. We will continue to plan such actions on Highway Seven moving next to Carleton Place and eastward……eventually reaching Ottawa if necessary.

Legal Strategy
The Algonquin alliance has secured the legal services of Chris Reid, who is an expert on Aboriginal rights and law. Chris is working from the legal standpoint that Algonquin people never surrendered our lands and thus our autonomy and jurisdiction remain intact in the areas in which Frontenac Ventures Corporation has staked and plans to drill core samples. The details of that strategy need to remain confidential, but we will keep you updated on the progress made.

Response from Frontenac Ventures Corporation
Frontenac Ventures Corporation has responded to our protest in a variety of ways, including issuing a statement in the Globe and Mail wherein Frontenac’s CEO George White suggested that perhaps companies in Canada should utilize paramilitary forces such as those used in Africa (if you have seen Blood Diamond you will get the idea) to protect mining interests from people such as ourselves, which he equated with terrorism. In a meeting held last week, White’s lawyer said several nasty things about our Mohawk allies and asked point blank if there were Mohawk warriors on the premises. White also promised swift legal action against us at that meeting and has followed through with that threat as we have been told that he has filed a 77 million dollar law suit against the two Algonquin communities here and their associated leaders. While a security force showed up at several points today trying to serve the notice, no one accepted it and they will now deliver it to our legal team which is being led by Chris Reid out of Toronto.

Fundraising
Given the length of time we will need to maintain the occupation of our lands and the nature of the legal issues, we will need to implement and maintain various fundraising initiatives and activities over the next few months. Frank Morrison, who alerted us to the activities of Frontenac Ventures Corporation, is in the process of organizing a major benefit concert to take place in Carleton Place which will help in that regard, as will the one that is scheduled for Weds in Sharbot Lake. If you are not able to come and stand with us on the ground here please get involved in organizing fundraising activities to support our efforts here and what will be undoubtedly a lengthy and costly legal battle. All funds raised can be dropped off at the gate or mailed to 1045 Canoe Lane Ardoch, ON. Please specify that mailed funds go to fight uranium mining and the efforts of the Algonquin people occupying the site. If you are not able to get involved in the organization of fundraising activities, please consider dropping off or sending in your donation to support this important issue. Uranium exploration and mining will destroy our traditional territory and make it impossible to live off the land or to maintain our responsibilities to the land and waterways. We are doing this for the benefit of your children and grandchildren, so that they will have a future as Algonquin people.

CHI-MIIGWECH!

The Algonquin Alliance of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation & Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation

As Long as the River Flows exerpt from You Tube

2007-09-01T03:35:00.000-07:00

Grassy Narrows First Nation (from You Tube)

2007-08-29T01:09:00.000-07:00

Learning to Trust

2007-08-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

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 be in solidarity with the poor would have to happen one person at a time to be real. Further, to love my neighbour meant that I’d have to allow my neighbour to love me, late night television and all.

Of course since I’m no longer a young person, financial insecurity lurked its mighty head. In the housing coop where I now live, housing charges are one-fourth of one’s income. So, if I were to become unemployed or underemployed, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my apartment. Now, Sarah and I have taken on the responsibility of a mortgage. In my case without claim to ownership or title. We have pledged to be responsible for the house, regardless of the ability of our future guests to contribute. It was then that it became clearer to me what poverty means to me as a Franciscan. It means learning to trust. It means that poverty entails being insecure. I now understand why my Order, the Franciscan Sisters of Joy, have no motherhouse, communal or individual property. We, like the poor, are totally dependent on God through and with others to deal with any of the obstacles encountered in this life. I must learn to trust in God’s will and the good will and cooperation of others. I have to realize that I am not the “master builder” as Romero put it nor am I in charge of the show. My capacity for cooperation and teamwork must be honed and enhanced. This brings me to community. As I wrote on another occasion,

I don’t believe self-acceptance [or growth] is possible without the help of others because it is through others that we learn what is acceptable and what is not. This process starts when we are children learning the rules of our society from our families and continues as we journey through life. This includes our spiritual life, I don’t believe that we can learn how to be or be spiritual without others. I believe that God speaks to us through others and on occasion speaks to others through us. However, there is also a caution that sometimes as Christians and people of God we must be in opposition to what is generally acceptable. One example is the current trend of leaving the Christ out of Christmas and reducing the Holy Season that commemorates Jesus’ birth to an exercise in ultimate consumerism.

I believe that this is why the Catholic Worker movement is so important to me. In striving to live out the gospel in a concrete way we need each other for support. I need to be reminded of the Sermon on the Mount and the Works of Mercy. We can remind each other that there is precedent for what we’re doing, not just back in some forgotten age, but in my lifetime, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and the movement they started.

Victoria Marie, osc

3D Dialogue: The Catholic Worker Movement

2007-08-28T22:50:00.001-07:00

Clear-Cuts and Blueberries

2007-08-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

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 people “are forced to disconnect from the very life that sustains them. The trees, the animals, the plants that they coexist with and had a living relationship with are being destroyed.” The areas that have been clear-cut have been replaced with a mono-culture of genetically engineered trees.

In a short one hour drive we passed several of these tree farms. The clear-cuts destroyed the habitat of several species of animals, birds and plants and in turn the loss of food, medicines and other resources that sustain three of the community’s families.

Yet there is hope. Normally, areas that have been clear-cut are chemically treated so that no other types of tree or vegetation can grow there besides grass, ensuring that the selected type of tree has no competition for soil nutrients. Pressure from Grassy Narrows and the four year Blockade contributed to the cessation of aerial spraying in the area thus enabling some local vegetation to re-establish itself.

There are signs of life returning. In one of these areas blueberries abound. The team was invited to pick blueberries by one of our hosts from Grassy Narrows. One of the team, Pat McSherry, remarked on how surreal it was to see the contrast between the clearcut and the thriving blueberries.

As suggested above, one can glimpse the image of God through the footprints of the Divine One in creation. Not only humans but all of creation bears the divine imprint of the Creator. Further, each microbe and being of creation is unique. Each deserves reverence and respect because of its singular manifestation of the Divine spark—of God. Wanton destruction of creation for greed without regard for its inherent sacredness is a form of sacrilege.

My experience of Grassy Narrows has prompted me to reflect on what happens if the clear-cutting does not stop and the life of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation is drained away. It is not enough for me to point the finger at others. I have to contemplate on how the Gospel is calling me respond to the challenging question posed by Brian Tuesday, “What have we done to see that justice prevails?”

Quote from The Colour of Fear

2007-07-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Reflection

2007-06-24T19:21:00.001-07:00

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 ourselves of who we are, what we want, really want and need. This led me to finally internalize in a more concrete way what has been said so many times before that the only stance or disposition for prayer is humility. Only You give our prayers silent or verbal any worth, merit or meaning. If I do not realize that, my prayer time is just so much noise or unconsciousness. When I say prayers for others, I have to name them to solidify my intent to pray for the person(s) named in the prayer. This is information to keep my neighbour in my mind. All of us are always in Your mind. Loving Constant Companion, I know that You need no reminders.

Please grant that I may always pray and reflect in a posture of humility, remembering that without You, I don't exist. You know my mind and heart and its desires before I have even formulated anything into a thought, wish or desire. I ask that you teach me to grow in love, humility and wisdom, that I may be able to discern Your will and have the strength and desire to do it. I ask this in nomine Patris et Fillii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

Upon suffering beyond suffering

2007-06-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

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.

Hate Crime Against Aboriginal Day

2007-06-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

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 signs and with the wording "White Power" written completely around the entire building, furthermore, picnic tables and tents have been destroyed.

Just as our community was preparing for its aboriginal day celebration today, there is no celebration, our community is in tears, and I must say that this heinous crime also raises the issue of our safety and security of our people, our community. Please, I am asking you as brothers and sisters, to get this message out to media, to the public.

This crime must be reported to the public.

We need the media's attention on this devastating situation!

We need public attention and support.

If you have further questions, you may contact the Kitigan Zibi Cultural Centre directly at: 819-441-1655, and ask for Sylvia, Anita, Rene or Gilbert,or you may contact me at 613-728-5999.

I Thank You for your attention to this message and for any help you can provide.

Claudette D. Commanda
Kitigan Zibi Algonquin Anishinabeg

Anyone with any information regarding the individuals who have done this should contact the Kitigan Zibi Police department at (819) 449-6000.

Love, Light & Healing

2007-06-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

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 designed to empower women and youth from the Downtown Eastside through Traditional Aboriginal and Contemporary Education, with a strong focus on strengthening the inner core. Components of the curriculum include innovative classes ranging from Life Skills to Traditional Aboriginal Culture, History and Arts - carving, cedar weaving, beadwork and jewelry-making. Students of The Project will witness, learn and assist the Carvers, Siya7pl’tn Jordan Seward (Haida & Squamish) and Morgan Green (Tsimshian) on the Totem, which will be raised in September 2007 at Wendy Poole Park in East Vancouver.

Spirits Rising Memorial Society was created to act as a catalyst for positive change, offering innovative educational and empowering initiatives that will have a real effect on the lives of Aboriginal Women, Youth, Families, and all people in our world.

Spirits Rising Memorial Society is kindly supported by Canadian Heritage (Aboriginal Women’s Program), Margaret Mitchell Fund for Women, BC Gaming Commission and the Aboriginal Division of BC Health.

-30-
For further information, interviews, images, etc., contact:

Michelle Morning Star Doherty
President
Spirits Rising Memorial Society
2019 Dundas Street (corner Wall Street)
Vancouver BC V5L 1J5
t: 604 254 1139 / c: 604 626 2559
w: www.spiritsrisingsociety.com
e: turtleisland@telus.net

Seeking Participants for Research on Recovery

2007-04-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

Environmental racism and trees

2006-07-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Environmental racism is a complex topic. It is much larger than can be discussed in detail in a space such as this. However, I would just like to provoke some thought on one aspect: trees. Trees are the meeting place where government, big business and urban social planners conspire to make green deprivation of people on the margins complete.

Greenspace Deprivation
Most of my life has been spent in two cities, New York (Brooklyn) and Vancouver (Canada). The poorest sections of both these cities have two striking similarities. The first is: a scarcity of green spaces and trees. The second is an overabundance of unwanted wildlife, rats, mice and roaches. For some, the only escape from the company of these unwanted guests is a drug or alcohol induced stupor.

The euphemism, concrete jungle, is consistent with popular sentiment and public policy toward these urban areas and their inhabitants. Policy and practice convey the message that inner cities and their residents need to be managed, contained, and kept from infringing on the civilized and cultivated parts of the city.

It appears that city planners have decided that their inner city residents are not worthy of the company of trees. This may seem a bit harsh and emotional, but I feel that the presence of green spaces and trees are both necessary and nourishing to people regardless of their socio-economic standing. Therefore, I regard the scarcity of green spaces as another instance of disregard for the well-being of the marginalized. This is not to say that trees and greenery should be present solely for their usefulness to inner-city dwellers rather trees and humans are both part of what constitutes community in areas where trees had been part of the indigenous flora.

Lifeways Murder
Our rural northern counterparts escape the work of city planners but fall prey to the whims and greed of multinationals. The Boreal forest is a remarkably biologically diverse and dynamic domain, extending some 15 million square kilometers over one-tenth of the earth's northern land surface, and about one-third of Canada (Source: Boreal Forest Network).

In Canada, the boreal forest ecosystem stretches across most of the north. The survival of the boreal forest is intrinsically linked to the cultural survival of the Indigenous Peoples who live within its boundaries. It is home to the majority of the over 600 First Nation communities in Canada, eighty percent of the Aboriginal population in Canada living in this forest eco-zone. Some Indigenous communities that inhabit the frontier boreal forest of northern Canada still practice their traditional way of life and depend upon the forests for their food, medicines, and economic livelihood. For Indigenous Peoples, land is where economic, social, spiritual and physical spheres merge, which is why their cultural attachment to that land is so strong. Large scale industrial development such as forestry, mining, hydroelectricity and oil/gas exploration are threatening the Boreal forest and the lifeways of the Aboriginal people for whom it is home.

For more info:
Visit the Rainforest Action Network and Take Action for Grassy Narrows First Nation

Visit Free Grassy Narrows web site

Visit CPT in Canada

Visit First Nations and the Boreal

View the RAN report: American Dream, Native Nightmare: The Truth About Weyerhaeuser's "Green" Products and Homes (PDF)

In print

2006-06-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have the honour of being among the contributors of the newly released anthology, In Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching Toward Decolonisation. Heartfelt thanks to Dr. Proma Tagore of the University of Victoria, editor and inspiration of the volume.

Publisher: Larkuma Press, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Cover Art:
Izmer Ahmad

Publication Year: 2006
ISBN: 0-9733821-2-0
Contributors: Olivia Ashbee; Tara Betts, njeri-damali (campbell), Chiinuuks; jennie duguay; Wil George; Naomi Horii; Rozmin Jaffer; Meghan Jezewska; Michelle La Flamme; Rhonda McIsaac; Victoria Marie; Lisa Okada; Rachel Reidner; Donyell L. Roseboro; Rubina Sidhu; Shaunga Tagore

PRESS RELEASE

In Our Own Voices: Learning and Teaching Toward Decolonisation is the work of nineteen scholars, poets and artists, each of whom extends our understanding of what it is to be a racialized minority in a classroom.

As Proma Tagore, editor of this anthology of essays, poems and graphic art, says, "This anthology came out of a direct need for a resource that could help racialized students to better negotiate their educational experiences and, along with others, create ways of resisting racism on campuses, in class rooms, and in class materials."

Kevin Kumashiro, Director, Centre for Anti-Oppressive Education, Washington D.C. writes:

This collection - at once moving and inspiring, insightful and troubling - speaks of the partialities of teaching, the paradoxes of change, and the intersectedness of identities, especially for those on the margins.

Ashok Mathur, Canada Research Chair in Cultural and Artistic Inquiry, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops writes:

The excitement of a collection such as this is not just that it gives space to previously hushed positions, but that it brings these writers together as a collective movement to document problematic histories and articulate potential futures.

The contributors are from diverse disciplines, including Literature, Visual Arts, Social Work, Nursing and Women's Studies, and diverse ethnocentric backgrounds, including First Nations, Chinese-, Japanese-, African- and Indo-Canadian.

For details, please contact Dr. Proma Tagore at ptagore@uvic.ca or Larkuma at larkuma2003@yahoo.com

Peace and All Good, Dear Bishop Ruiz

2006-06-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Tatik (meaning “father” or “elder”) is an affectionate Tzotzil title for Bishop Samuel Ruiz, who flies home tomorrow after a 10 day visit in Vancouver. Bishop Ruiz is the beloved and distinguished retired Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas (Mexico) known for the prophetic ministry of reconciliation and accompaniment he practiced for more than 50 years.

Bishop Ruiz led a delegation from Mexico at the World Peace Forum. Thousands of Vancouverites and international visitors participated in workshops, spiritual gatherings, festivals and panels organized by the “Times of Struggle” Tour. The delegation also included human rights activists from Mexico City and four indigenous leaders from the southern state of Oaxaca.

During the Times of Struggle tour, the indigenous leaders occupied the Mexican consulate of Vancouver three times, in response to acts of state violence against striking schoolteachers and their supporters.

“These are dangerous times for community organizations in Mexico— federal, state, and local governments have been complicit in horrific violence against communities in the build up to the July 2nd federal elections; Canadians can’t continue to ignore the violation of basic human rights in communities across Mexico” Said Emilie Smith, a Vancouver-based organizer of the tour.

Tonight at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre on East Hastings Street, Times of Struggle participants came together one last time to receive the Bishop’s blessing, and to give him ours. He returns to Mexico to advocate peace among the peoples of Oaxaca. He has been invited by the school teachers to lead a commission to mediate between themselves and government authorities.

In a celebratory atmosphere, Indigenous peoples and activists from the north and south danced, shared stories, networked and made plans to continue in la lucha (the struggle), together.

The month of May left a footprint in the history of Colombia

2006-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

(Personal correspondence from Amanda Martin)
The month of May left a footprint in the history of Colombia.

Alvaro Uribe was elected for a second consecutive Presidential term (2002-2006, 2006-2010). His amendment to change the 1991 Colombian Constitution, to legally permit his candidacy, passed in October 2005. President Uribe was in Washington last week (his 9th visit) to discuss the Free Trade Agreement.

Also in May, a national summit was held to protect and enforce the rights of the Colombian people. 15,000 people (farmers, indigenous groups, students, labor leaders, Afro-Colombians, and many others) gathered at the Guambiano indigenous reserve of La Maria, Piendamo, in the state of Cauca (SW Colombia). This land is titled “for co-existence, negotiation, and dialogue”.

The people demanded to meet with the government to discuss the failure of the state to comply with the law. Specific issues included the indigenous and Afro-Colombian right to collective land, a national referendum on the Free Trade Agreement, Agrarian Reform, inclusion of victims in negotiations with demobilized illegal armed actors, state support of the right to protest and freedom of expression, and the right to life.

During the 5 day summit, none of the government ministers attended. The people decided to block the Pan-American highway in order to get the attention of the government. The government responded by sending the anti-riot police to enter the indigenous reserve by force.

Helicopters flew just 20 feet above the ground, shooting tear gas canisters at the people. Many were wounded, and one indigenous leader was killed. The community health clinic was destroyed. The organic coffee plants were contaminated with tear gas, while the harvested coffee beans were stolen. A house, 15 motorcycles, the entire stock of medicine from the clinic, and furniture was burned. Computers and the dry goods from the community store were stolen. The state troops defecated in the community cooking pots and on the floors of the health clinic.

The US government has just approved another $801 million for Plan Colombia in 2007. 82% of this money is designated for war (further militarization). $200 million alone is for fumigations and helicopters (maintenance and purchasing). Our tax dollars are funding this war.

Reflection

2006-04-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

April 25, 2006. Recently, I attended an Unlearning Racism Workshop in Red Lake (Ontario) with the Christian Peacemaker Teams Kenora delegation. As a woman of colour, I had found the experience a bit unsettling. Since that time, I have had the wonderful good fortune to become part of a community that was formed by the people of colour from that workshop. Together we come from the four directions and in some instances from three directions in one person. We have become for each other a safe place to explore and discuss our feelings, to help each other heal from recurrent assaults on our hearts and spirits, and--by sharing-- be of help to others who know the daily assault of living in a society where racism is so entrenched that the beneficiaries of systemic racism react with genuine hurt and/or indignation when it is pointed out or discussed.

While looking at an old website that I created so long ago that I can no longer even access to modify, I came across the following item that I wrote around 1994. Walk with me...

Dear Sister,

Today, I spent the day in silence wrestling with some old wounds. However, I found a way to write them to you and also cleanse my heart of some of the anger that I've been holding in for so many years. So, I've decided to tell you the following story:

They Told Me
When I was little, before they could tell me things they told my mother. They told my grandmother. I remember when grandma went to register me in school. She promised mom that she would put me in Catholic School. Grandma was Baptist, she would insist, "Free Will Baptist". One day she decided it must be registration time, so off we went to the local Catholic Parochial School. The nun in charge seemed quite annoyed and said, "You people always come late." However, for some reason that I could not fathom her whole demeanor and attitude changed when diminutive five foot Grandma grew about two feet somehow, like cats do, and said, "What do you mean You People?" In any case Grandma's displeasure and her inference that our people are not always late had the desired effect and I was registered without further incident. Later on I wondered how sister knew anything about us people because there weren't any others in the school or among the parishioners. They told us we were always late but how many of us did they know?

During vocation week, the school was peppered with posters reminiscent of those outside military recruiting offices with Uncle Sam replaced by Jesus with the caption, "Jesus Wants You." The message was also communicated throughout the year with tactics vacillating between the soft and hard "sell". Like the other children in my class, perhaps the whole school, I began to wonder if I might have a religious vocation. I was too young to actually think in those terms but I used to go to Mass every morning before school, once I was old enough to go to school by myself.
I did quite well in school which made Grandma and mother proud. The diocesan high school took only five girls from each parochial school in our county and the next. The five were those with the highest scores on the High School Entrance Exams. The five from our Catholic Parochial School, included me. Although high school proved more difficult it was not insurmountable. It also had an extra bonus. There were more of my people there. Not many, only about 20 out of 400 girls, but at least I wasn't alone anymore.

In the second year, I felt that I had a vocation. This time the feeling was fully articulated in my mind, so I proceeded to seek advice. I went to my religion teacher, a nun, whose name I cannot remember, this forty years later. What surprise and disappointment overtook me when I heard her reply, "Make sure you choose an Order that accepts You(r) People." For ten years I had been told Jesus wants you, Jesus loves my people, that the church wants everybody to belong. How could it be that only one order in the whole United States would accept My People?

It would get worse. In my last year of high school in a course called, "Preparation for Marriage and Child Care", they called all of the girls who were one of my people to attend this special session. What I remember most about it is that we were advised that it was better to marry a Protestant that was one of our people than to marry a Catholic that was one of their people. Now, this is before Vatican II, before Catholics admitted that anyone besides a Roman Catholic could get to Heaven. All my life they told me my faith, my religion was the most important thing. Then they told me more important than religion, more important than faith, is that my people don't get married to their people.

I graduated and went away from their religion for a long time but on this continent you can't escape their people. I met some of their people who were nice and once I left my country, I met even more who were like normal, feeling human beings. But I didn't go back to the Catholic Church for a long, long time. You see, I had to figure out and choose between what Jesus said and what they told me.

Victoria Marie

Residents of Coast Salish Territory Support Six Nations

2006-04-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

Photography: Victoria Marie

April 25, 2006. VANCOUVER: Today, hundreds of people gathered on Coast Salish Territory outside the Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver to show their support for the Six Nations in Caledonia, Ontario. The action was organized to serve as a deterrence to prevent any further police escalation against the Rotin'oshon'ni Six Nations. People from all races joined the Vancouver Native community in a show of solidarity for the demands of the clan mothers of the Six Nations for an immediate cessation of all construction by Henco Industries on Six Nations territory.

BACKGROUND (The following background info is from The Timeline and Info on Calendonia Six Nations Struggle)

On March 3rd, 2006, Rotin'oshon'ni Six Nations people set up camp on the Haldimand Tract, located at the entrance to Douglas Creek Estates, a 71-lot subdivision under construction by Henco Industries Ltd. on Six Nations territory.

"Six Nations" refers to the six nations that are part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Gayogoho:no (Cayuga), Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk), Onyota’a:ka (Oneida), Onoda’gega (Onondaga), Onodowahgah (Seneca), and Ska-ru-ren (Tuscarora). The traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy crosses the colonial US/Canada border, including parts of “Ontario”, “Quebec”, “Pennsylvania”, “Ohio”, “New York”, and “New Hampshire”.

There are many Rotin'oshon'ni communities. The Six Nations reserve is in the area known as southern “Ontario”, near the towns of Brantford, Caledonia, and Hagersville. Other Rotin'oshon'ni communities include Kahnesatake (a Mohawk community near the town of Oka, which the Canadian government laid siege to in 1990), Kahnawake, Ganlengeh, Tonawanda, Allegany, Cattaragus, Akwesasne, Tyendinaga, and Gibson. There are also many Rotin'oshon'ni living outside these areas.

Canada’s Ongoing Theft of Six Nations Land

1784: In recognition of Six Nations support of the British Crown during the American War of independence, the Crown issues the Haldimand Proclamation officially recognizes land stretching six miles on either side of the Grand River from Lake Erie to Dundalk (approx. 950,000 acres of land) as Six Nations land.

1795: Lieutenant-Governor John Simcoe decides to reduce the area formally recognized as Six Nations land by the Crown to 275,000 acres.

1924: Department of Indian Affairs imposes band council system on Six Nations, to undermine hereditary systems of governance and facilitate land theft.

Since 1795 the Crown has continually stolen more and more land for occupation by settlers, sale to developers, and road construction. The area officially designated by the Canadian government as the Six Nations reserve is now less than 5% of the original area promised by the Crown in 1784.
Brief Chronology of the Camp

June 13, 2005: The province of Ontario passes the Places to Grow Act. The act provides a legal framework for the provincial government to designate any area of land (including unceded First Nations land) as a “growth plan area” and decide on its development. A regulation was also passed identifying the “Greater Golden Horseshoe area” (which includes unceded Six Nations land) as the first area for which a growth plan will be prepared.

October 25, 2005: Six Nations people and supporters hold an information picket at Douglas Creek to raise awareness of the ongoing theft of Six Nations land.

November 24, 2005: The Ontario Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal releases the Proposed Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Unceded Six Nations land is part of this development plan.

February 28, 2006: Six Nations people and supporters reoccupy the land to block further construction by Henco Industries, saying they will stay until jurisdiction and title over the land is properly restored to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Apr 20, 2006: Police invasion fails, Six Nations resistance holds against military and racist mob

At 5 AM over 150 heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) invade the camp, using Tasers, batons, tear gas, and pepper spray against unarmed Six Nations people and arresting 16 individuals. The people at the camp courageously resist and force police to retreat. Supporters from across North America pledge to come to the camp to stand in solidarity. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the police action is "completely independent'' and that his government didn't learn of the raid until it was already in progress.

Racism: Is There a Future Different From the Present?

2006-04-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Racism: Is There a Future That is Potentially Different from the Present?
Dr. Victoria Marie, o.s.c.
(adapted thesis excerpt)

The Anglican Archdiocese of New Westminster, which includes Vancouver, conducted a study a few years ago to determine what was needed most in terms of drug treatment facilities for the Downtown Eastside. In addition to finding that treatment and recovery resources were insufficient, the task force found “the client group in greatest need of recovery facilities is single aboriginal women aged 18 to 25 years” (Downtown Eastside Working Group, 1998, n.p.). Despite this lack of treatment resources, there are several Alcoholics Anonymous groups whose members are First Nations women and men with long-term sobriety. Therefore, one of the issues that has plagued me since the completion of data collection for my thesis is why almost all of those who agreed to participate in my study were white. One reason is that some potential participants of colour were tired of being researched, that is, of being treated as tokens or representatives of their particular group. This led me to ask is it possible that there are obstacles to recovery for certain groups. If, as McIntosh and McKeganey (2001, p. 57) suggest, “a desire to restore a spoiled identity and a sense of a future that is potentially different from the present” are key factors in successful identity transformation and recovery from addiction, racism is an impediment to both of these factors. For example, in discussing the impact of minority status on success in school, Ogbu (1992) argues that one reason for the poor school performance of “involuntary minorities” is their distrust of “White people (or their minority representatives) who control [schools and] other societal institutions” (p. 291). Ogbu defines voluntary minorities as those who immigrated in search of a better life. Involuntary minorities are those groups who were colonized or those who are the descendents of slaves. These groups include Native Americans/First Nations and African Canadians/Americans, those who have no other homeland. He suggests that voluntary minority group members are more successful in school than those from involuntary minority groups.

One between-group difference is the percentage of strategies any given minority group has that enhance school success. Those groups with a high percentage of success enhancing strategies have more choices that lead to success. Those groups with a lower percentage have fewer choices that lead to success (p. 292).

Involuntary minority groups have had to deal with institutional racism as an historically entrenched reality. The psychological effects of systemic racism are intergenerational. Apprey (1998) uses the term “transgenerational haunting” to describe how the negative psychological effects of institutional racism change as they pass from one generation to the next.

Under the rubric of transgenerational haunting, we come to the transfer of destructive aggression from one generation to the next. In such a transfer we may witness a shift from suicide in one generation, murder in the next, followed by, let us say incest or physical abuse in a subsequent generation, and so on and so forth. It is as if the injured group has accepted the message that they do not deserve to live and therefore must die in one form or another. At the very least that injured group may exist in a reduced form such as living— but living a most unproductive life. Here the motor of ambush toward one's death remains the same but the license plate, that is, the form of reducing oneself to nothingness, changes from one generation to the next (n.p.).

In addition to the legacy just described, there are what Gooding (2003) terms microaggressions, which describe the day-to-day racism people face, “the kind of thing that happens when you step into a lift and the [white] woman inside pulls her bag slightly closer to her” (p. 5). There’s nothing the Black person can do. “It happens every day—it’s these acts that change the way you view yourself and the world around you” (p. 5). It is interesting to note that in the original Gooding uses simply the word ‘woman’ as if accepting the unstated ‘white’ as normative. The next section affirms my contention that these microaggressions cause traumatic and cumulative stress. I omit the term ‘post’ because for members of visible minorities, the traumatic experiences recur continually and are therefore never ‘post’.

Several researchers agree that people are traumatized when they face uncontrollable life events and are helpless to affect the outcome of those events (Lindemann 1944 in Dayton, 2000, p. 5). Individuals may be traumatized by the experience of growing up in a home where addiction, chronic physical, sexual or emotional abuse, or neglect are present. Middleton-Moz (1989) posits that children who have faced cumulative traumas

might never remember what really happened, yet the buried feelings and emotional reactions to these experiences may direct the course of their lives. As adults these individuals may suffer from panic attacks, bulimia, chronic depression, antisocial behavior, compulsive behavioral problems and addictions (p. 4).

She acknowledges that pathology is not inescapable but cautions,

Some children of trauma may eventually become leaders of corporations, doctors, psychologists, artists or poets. The pain and sensitivity of past experiences may help them create gifts to the world, yet many will treat themselves with disdain and neglect through workaholism, extreme perfectionism (p. 5).

Racism and discrimination are sources of cumulative trauma. Middleton-Moz (1989) tells the story of an Inuit boy, Danny, who was with his parents in a department store, “running his hand gently across the face a blond white-skinned doll” while within earshot the father of a white boy chastises his son, saying ‘Damn it, son.… Get up off that floor; you look like a drunk, squattin’ Indian!’ In response, Danny’s parents look away and silently lead him from the store” (p. 4). She states that the lesson Danny may learn from instances like this could lead to the internalization of self-hate. According to Milora (2000) “a negative sense of self derives, at least in part, from one imagining being perceived in a less-than-positive light by others. Cultural racism assaults victims with real experiences of being perceived as less-than-human” (p. 44, italics in original). The accumulation of racist incidents over time is devastating to a child’s self-concept. Middleton-Moz explains:

The trauma in this case is the continual erosion of self-esteem faced by ethnic and cultural minorities in a world where they are seen as lesser than others. The belief may develop early in these children’s lives that their families lack power in the majority culture. Cultural and ethnic self-hate leads to a sense, deep in the core of the self, that “there is nothing I can do to make up for the lacking in myself and the awareness that I am deeply and profoundly unlovable.”

This shame is frequently multigenerational. The child not only receives continual cues of his lack of power and lovability from the real world outside the family but may also feel it deeply from his parents whenever they have contact with the broader community (p. 10).

Researchers agree that trauma victims try to control their inner turmoil and their struggles with the outside world by self medicating with drugs, alcohol, over-eating or other addictive behaviours (Davis, 1997; Dayton, 2000; Fullilove and Lown, 1992; Kaslow, Thompson, Price, Young, Bender, Wyckoff, Twomey, Goldin, and Parker, 2002; Middleton-Moz, 1989; Miliora, 2000; Price and Simmel, 2002). Dayton (2000) asserts that unresolved childhood trauma may result in the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adulthood, “which can and often do lead to addiction” (Dayton, 2000, p. xxi).

When the self-medicating substance wears off, the person is again overwhelmed by the pain, which now has further isolation, shame and unresolved pain added to it. Hence, the need for a substance to assuage a stormy inner world becomes even more pressing. Thus, the trauma victim enters a vicious circle: emotional and psychological pain—self-medication with drugs, alcohol, food, sex, etc.—sobering up—reemerging of unresolved pain—more medication, and so on (Dayton, 2000, p. 18 emphasis in original).

Culture provides a sense of coherence for a people (Lowery 1998). Culture does this because it offers the group a way to answer life’s questions on a daily basis, provides a sense of place in the world, and gives a worldview appropriate to the group’s structure.

Contact with white men brought viruses and diseases that the Yup'ik shamans had never encountered and the people could not overcome. The "Yup'ik world turned upside down" in the face of the "Great Death"--an influenza epidemic originating in Nome in 1900 (Napoleon, pp. 10-11in Lowery 1998). It spread throughout Alaska, killing 60 percent of the Eskimo and Athabascan people; it claimed whole families and whole villages; it spawned a generation of orphans--the great-grandparents and grandparents of the people living today. "The world the survivors woke to was without anchor. The angalkuq [shamans], their medicines, and their beliefs had all passed away overnight. They woke up in shock, listless, confused, bewildered, heartbroken, and afraid" (Napoleon, 1991, p. 11 in Lowery 1998).

According to Lowery (1998), alcoholism among Native Americans is primarily a crisis of spirit. “The sense of coherence of an entire people was shattered at the turn of the century. There was no lawfulness, no cultural explanation, no magic, and no predictability. The world truly went upside down” (p. 4). Lowery suggests the generic substance abuse treatment of the dominant society is insufficient to heal, “the devastation to the spirit that American Indians addicted to drugs and alcohol suffer” (p. 5). She suggests that although Aboriginal populations are often seen as powerless, they are not. Rather, it is that the powers they possess are not valued in the dominant society. Lowery states,

Their cultural teachings of interdependence—obligation and caretaking, the sharing of power, the recognition of the spirit in all things, the responsibility given by the Creator to preserve Mother Earth, and acknowledgment of those who have come before them and those who will come after them—are all part of who American Indians are. These teaching[s] provide the strength from which Indian peoples come (p. 5).

Lowery (1998) argues that we must acknowledge the interconnectedness of all living things and “that human beings are only a part of this total ecology” (p. 5). We must acknowledge that alcoholism is a crisis of the spirit, which requires a healing of the spirit, of the mind, and of the body within a larger framework of existence (p. 5).

While Lowery doesn’t state or may not even intend to suggest this, I would argue that part of the larger framework of existence must entail the self-examination by the members of society of European descent. There must be a willingness on the part of this segment of society to stop their assault on the culture and spirits of the neighbours of non-European descent. Is there a future that is different from the present?

WORKS CITED

Apprey, M., Ph.D. (1998). Reinventing the Self in the Face of Received Transgenerational Hatred in the African American Community, 2003, from http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/csmhi/self.cfm

Davis, R. E. (1997). Trauma and addiction experiences of African American women. Western Journal of Nursing Research (Reprinted with permission by Gale Group, pp. 1-18), 19(4), 442.

Dayton, T. (2000). Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy. Deerfield Beach (Florida): Health Communications, Inc.

Downtown Eastside Working Group. (1998). In Support of Recovery - An Anglican Response to Addiction. Vancouver: Anglican Church of Canada - Diocese of New Westminster - Stewards-in-Action Ministries.

Fullilove, M. T., & Lown, A. (1992). Crack 'hos and skeezers: Traumatic experiences of women crack users. Journal of Sex Research, 29(2), 275.

Gooding, L. (2003). The 'drip, drip, drip' effect of racism takes its toll. Mental Health Practice, 7(3), 5.

Kaslow, N. J., Thompson, M. P., Price, A. M., Young, S., Bender, M., Wyckoff, S., et al. (2002). Risk and Protective Factors for Suicidal Behavior in Abused African American Women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(2), 311-319.

Lowery, C. T. (1998). American Indian perspective on addiction and recovery. Health & Social Work, 23(2), 127.

McIntosh, J., & McKeganey, N. (2001). Identity and Recovery from Dependent Drug Use: the addict's perspective. Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 8(1), 47-59.

Middleton-Moz, J. (1989). Children of Trauma. Seattle: Health Communications, Inc.

Miliora, M. T. (2000). Beyond Empathic Failures: Cultural Racism As Narcissistic Trauma and Disenfranchisement of Grandiosity. Clinical Social Work Journal, 28(1), 43-54.

Ogbu, J. U. (1992). Adaptation to Minority Status and Impact on School Success. Theory Into Practice, 31(4), 287.

Price, A., & Simmel, C. (2002). Partners' Influence on Women's Addiction and Recovery: The Connection Between Substance Abuse, Trauma, and Intimate Relationships. Berkeley, CA: National Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center, School of Social Welfare, University of California at Berkeley.

Boycott Film Press Release

2006-03-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

PLANNING COMMITTEE
Women’s Memorial March

BOYCOTT THE FILM, "KILLER PICKTON" PETITION

VANCOUVER, BC, MARCH 6, 2006: The Boycott the film, “Killer Pickton” Petition, which was hosted by PetitionOnline.com, collected over 1200 signatures in just over a month (January 30, 2006 to March 3, 2006). Signatories were asked to pledge to boycott the film by signing the petition, which stated in part.

This film serves only to feed the prurient interests of misogynists, while making violence against women a commodity. We feel the film is disrespectful to the memories of the murdered and missing women and their families. We are tired of the women being referred to as "mostly drug-addicted prostitutes" as if killing them were not as heinous as killing other women. The film and the publicity surrounding it, shows a total disregard for the humanity of the women. They are daughters, sisters, mothers and friends who are loved and who are missed by their families and friends.

I consider our petition campaign as success. Yet, I can not help but find it a sad commentary on our times that our petition collected just over 1200 signatures and a petition requesting that the television program, One Tree Hill, not be cancelled has collected almost 20, 000 and counting. It says that keeping a TV program on the air matters more than doing something to ease the pain and suffering of real people such as the victims, family and friends of women on the receiving end of violent acts.

On March 3rd, 2006 the completed petition was sent to the following recipients to ensure that it was in their hands by March 8th, International Women’s Day:

Los Angeles Times, Letters to the Editor

Motion Picture Distribution, Alliance Atlantis

Tom Alexander, Director, Theatrical Releasing, Mongrel Media

Pat Marshall, Vice President Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Galaxy LP

Jon Bain Senior Vice-President of Theatrical Distribution & Publicity, Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation

Chris Adkins, Operations, Telefilm Canada

Dean Leland, Vice President Marketing and Media, Empire Theatres Ltd

Hon. Libby Davies, Canadian House of Commons, Vancouver East

The Shadow Factory, Inc. (makers of the film)

For more information or for a copy of the petition and signatories’ names, please contact, Vikki at (604) 255-1555 or (604) 339-6413 or by E-mail at vmarie@telus.net

-30-

The High Cost of Free Trade for Indigenous and Afro-Colombians

2006-01-18T23:01:00.000-08:00

Victoria Marie, PhD
Presented at the
Racial Violence and the Colour Line of the New World Order Conference
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
April 2, 2005

The power of spreading the word… When governments speak they don’t speak the truth. Plan Colombia is not addressing social probems but spending more on war, which seems to have the aim of eliminating the civilian population (OFP, 2004).

Introduction
Colombia has been in a state of civil war for the past 40 years. The combatants are the legitimately armed actors, such as the army and police; paramilitaries, who protect the interests of legal and illegal businesses; and two major groups of revolutionary forces. However, it is the civilian population that is most adversely impacted from the ongoing conflict. They are endangered by the warring factions, who routinely murder, displace or conscript them. The aim of this paper is to explore how this conflict and economic policies have adversely affected the people of colour in Colombia, from the perspective of Colombian women. Data gathered in Bogotá and rural Cauca from mestizo, indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups form the basis for this paper.

In November 2004, the author was part of a Witness for Peace (WFP) women’s delegation to Colombia. After we settled in our hotel in Bogotá, we went on a mini tour of the city by bus. We passed a section of town that looked as if it had been devastated by bombing or some other kind of mechanized erasure. There were people huddling over fires, others combing through rubble and others seemingly looking on aimlessly. Our guide explained that this section had been a particularly violent and dangerous part of town. As part of the effort to cleanse the city, the area was bulldozed. Both the criminal element and the poor who could not afford to live anywhere else were rendered homeless. In vivid contrast, we next went to the Presidential Palace and other edifices of the state as well as the Basilica. Palace guards inspected our bags before we were allowed to walk past these seats of state and religious power.

The purpose of the delegation was to stand in solidarity with Colombia’s women of peace and through meeting these women, to learn about the effects of United States and other foreign policies on the lives of the Colombian people. The delegation attended the Fourth Congress of Women Workers CUT (Central Unitario de Trabajadores), Women and Society, where we spoke with women from the health, education and farm worker unions. The group also had meetings with a cross section of 12 other organizations, as well as a meeting with representatives from the United States Embassy in Bogotá and a meeting with a representative from the Colombian army. The organizations visited were concerned with issues of labour, internal displacement, the disappeared/detained, health, education and the militarization of civilians. At the 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women, the indigenous women of the world declared,

The 'New World Order' which is engineered by those who have abused and raped Mother Earth, colonised, marginalised, and discriminated against us, is being imposed on us viciously. This is recolonisation coming under the name of globalisation and trade liberalisation. The forces behind this are the rich industrialised nation-states, their transnational corporations, financial institutions which they control like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). They will cooperate and compete among themselves to the last frontiers of the world's natural resources located in our lands and waters (Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women, 1995).

Little has changed since 1995, as the economic and physical violence in Colombia continues to be concentrated on indigenous groups, African Colombians and mestizo campesinos (mestizos are people of mixed indigenous and European and/or African heritage and campesinos are small farmers). The women of these groups suffer the most from displacement and genocidal practices that are perpetrated with seeming impunity. The impact of private and public practices on the lives of Colombian women of colour is the focus of this paper. The issues are presented using documentary sources but primarily through the voices of these courageous women. The initiatives they have taken as paths of resistance are presented to show that although they have suffered many forms of repression and violence, their creativity, resourcefulness and resilience has not been vanquished.

Free Trade Agreements and the Internally Displaced
IDP (Internally displaced person) is the acronym that hides the reality of people forced to leave their homes to settle in unfamiliar and unfriendly urban fringes. Transnational interests and the hope of free trade agreements are the chief producers of the displacement of people from their homes.

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) eliminate trade barriers, which are set up to protect small farmers and manufacturers. Without the trade barriers, transnational business interests can set prices that undercut local prices. Forced out of the market by the inability to compete, small farmers are usually forced to sell their land because they are no longer able to make a living. This in turn, forces mass influxes of people to urban areas, where their situation would be better described as that of domestic refugees.

For culturally unique groups, the process of shifting from traditional economic contexts to urban environments spells assimilation. Indigenous languages rapidly vanish, and cultural traditions of all types, be they Afro-Colombian, indigenous or Appalachian, disappear within a few generations. Within the cities poor health conditions, poverty and a lack of opportunity combine, and sometimes the only options seem to be crime, prostitution and drug abuse (Hodges, 2004).

Ciudad Bolivar, the last stop for many domestic refugees, is situated on the outskirts of Bogotá. It has the worst social conditions of Bogotá. For example, the first cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 44 is violence and for people between 45 and 59, violence is second. A spokeswoman for Organización Femenina de Popular (OFP), a local women’s group, describes the situation in Ciudad Bolivar of as follows:

It is hard to know which armed actors are here. This is like a corridor, which one day it’s one group. The next, it’s another. It’s hard here because the legal armed actors make it difficult for our youth. These armed actors detain young people and humiliate them. They do this not only to youth but men, women and children as well. There are murders here everyday, this is part of the process of “social cleansing.” There is a systematic policy of extermination being carried out by the government and the legal armed actors.

Amnesty International reports that in January 2004, an OFP worker was abducted by armed men, believed to be paramilitaries, who reportedly scalded her feet with boiling water and shaved her head. They told her she was being tortured because, “we want you out of OFP” (Amnesty International USA, 2004). In spite of the ever present danger, the OFP is struggling to end political and economic violence. The organization has helped over 373 families since their inception. Their motto, “Las mujeres no paramos ni forjamos hijos e hihas para la guerra” (“We do not give birth and raise sons and daughters for war”). The OFP are human rights advocates concerned with health care, decent housing, public services, schools and the rights of women inside and outside the home.

Speculation that the Andean Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement will be signed is behind the quest for new avenues to transport goods. There is also growing transnational interests in natural and other resources in north western region of Colombia. These factors contribute to the social injustice perpetrated against the local populations. For example, a Boston Globe story picked up by Colombia Week reports,

As he explores running for Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick is drawing criticism from labor leaders who say he ignored alleged labor and human rights violations at Coca-Cola while he was its vice president and chief legal counsel. The violations include paramilitary attacks on workers and labor organizers at Colombian facilities (Boston Globe 2/8 in Colombia Week, 2005).

Rich in timber, platinum, gold, uranium, abundant water and great biodiversity, Choco has been called Colombia’s “piggy bank” (Hodges, 2004). The only obstacles to extracting resources are physical access and the local population. Therefore, the old Panama canal, which cannot accommodate some of the modern big ships, makes the Panama-Colombia border an attractive site in various proposals for an alternate canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Between these proposals and the Pan-American Highway, plus large-scale hydroelectric and natural gas pipeline projects already in the works, this real estate becomes some of the most valuable in the world. Panama has always resisted completion of the Pan-American Highway, for a number of reasons, but Colombia’s government is working hard to persuade its neighbor. Colombia, along with all its business partners, knows that the riches of the Chocó are unparalleled (Hodges, 2004).

Colombia’s black population is concentrated in the Choco region along the Pacific Coast where they represent 95% of the population. The Black presence in Colombia dates back to the early part of the 16th century. African slaves replaced the Indigenous slaves, who were literally being worked to death. Today, Afro-Colombian labour drives the coffee and banana plantations of Antioquia and the mines and trade services of Choco. Yet, the living conditions of the African and Indigenous residents of the Chocó, 80 percent of whom live in extreme poverty and have an illiteracy rate three times the national average, provide a stark contrast to the potential riches of the region. “Only four countries—Afghanistan, Angola, Liberia and Sierra Leone—have a higher infant mortality rate than the Chocó, where 125 children out of every 1,000 die before reaching their first birthday" (Gibbs and Leech, 2003). They are plagued by the deterioration of public health, forced migrations to urban centers and the dispossession of land by armed actors. (Minorities At Risk, 2004).

Article 55 of the 1991 Constitution dealt with lands on the Pacific coast watershed and out of that article Law 70 was created, which gave certain cultural and organizational rights to Afro-Colombians as a distinct group. For example, it gave the right to participate in local government as an Afro-Colombian. Particularly significant was that Law 70 paved the way for them to work for collective title to their lands.

Immediately after collective title was granted the army came in and started bombing, indiscriminate bombing. The pretext was clearing out guerrillas. Because of that 20,000 fled in deep fear…. Quite a few fled to Cartagena, some to Panama, a city near Panama. But the vast majority went to Pavarandó, Antioquia (bordering Choco). This has been, until now, the largest ever displacement in Colombian history (Witness for Peace, 2002).

The greatest threat to Afro-Colombians are the armed actors: military, guerrilla, and paramilitary forces, all of whom share responsibility for killings, disappearances, and land displacements in black communities.

Paramilitaries and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) units have surrounded villages in the western province of Chocó for a week, trapping up to 1,000 people and preventing food and medicine from entering, Lt. Gov. Fredy Lloreda said (Colombia Week, 2005).

The principles demands of Black Colombians, including the women of AFRODES are: greater political rights in their own communities, greater participation in decision making at the central state level, equal civil rights and status, greater economic opportunities, and protection of land and jobs used for the advantage of other groups (Minorities At Risk, 2004).

Soacha, a part of Ciudad Bolivar, looks very much like a refugee camp on the outskirts of Bogotá. It is the new home of many displaced Afro-Colombians. Witness for Peace has visited AFRODES in Soacha several times over the years, including visits in 2001 and again in July/August 2002 and the quote above is from the 2002 delegation. AFRODES, founded in 1999, is an organization that helps displaced Afro-Colombians (Podur and Witness for Peace, 2001). In November 2004, our Witness for Peace delegation visited Soacha but this time we focused on the voices of women. The women of Soacha told us the following (I have used pseudonyms for the women.)

Rothi
I came because of the violence. I came with my grandchildren. We went through a lot of pain. AFRODES helps but it is not enough. There are so many bad times for our children. It is a hard life for women with children. So here I am, without work. They don’t give us work. We don’t have friends here. We have no chickens. We have no farm and we don’t have work. We used to live off agriculture in the mountains. We had a little farm. But we had to leave because of the violence.

Cece
I am the head of the household with three children. Right now I am unemployed. It is important to give employment to women heads of households. I come from a small town [in Antioquia], very tranquil. Then one day we found bodies. We were not used to violence. That is why we started our group. We need to organize to protect ourselves. I have been in the city seven years. No work. I have to be mother and father to my children. My children can’t be in school because there is nobody supporting me. My daughter is in AFRODES kindergarten. Even in the AFRODES kindergarten, you need to support or how could the school remain open.

Lila
We lived in Rio Sucio in Choco. My first husband was murdered. We don’t know why they killed him. They gave us 24 hours to leave. We went to a small town then I moved to Quito with two small children. Then I came to Bogotá. I have been here three years. In the beginning I got help from Network Solidarity and priests. I married my second husband and had another child. My children are in school. My husband does day labour sometimes. He has work sometimes, sometimes not. When we do have work we put the money aside so the children can go to school.

Aspirations

We find work through word of mouth. Do any kind of work but I would like to work in a factory or selling clothes in a shop of my own.

No one will give me work because of my age. I like to work. I want to work. I would like to raise chickens and then sell them.

We feel secure but insecure at the same time because there is no law or authority that ensures our safety.

The situation is very hard and very difficult. We want peace. We reject violence. We don’t want violence. We want peace.

We want a future without violence, with love. We want our children to study and have a better life. They should give money for displaced people, so our children can move forward.

As ominous as the experiences of the displaced are the experiences of the families with loved ones’ whose whereabouts are unknown. The Association for the Families of the Detained and Disappeared (ASFADDES) was born in 1982 and came out of the disappearance of 13 students. People went to the government to try and find out about their family members to no avail.

Teresa
22 years ago, we began our struggle and 4 years ago, a law was put in place that forced disappearance is a crime against humanity. Until then the government of Colombia did not have disappearance as a crime. Kidnapping was a crime because it mainly happened to the rich but disappearance was a crime against the poor. One day after Law 589 was passed, our colleague was killed. Many of my colleagues have had to leave Colombia because of persecution. They have bombed my house, threatened my daughter, they follow us and take photographs. My promise is to my disappeared partner and all the disappeared in Colombia and elsewhere. My son is 25 and my daughter is 18. I was pregnant with my daughter, when my partner was disappeared. My son now works with me in this work. We continue this human rights work because we continue to dream and hope that we can have a dignified life.

ASFADDES was founded to find out information about family members and to work for peace, justice and human rights. The organization has several areas of work, one of which is education and human rights.

We also work on denouncements to make the government give reasons for the disappeared and killed. Something we do that is very import is every May, we make a memorial in memory of the disappeared to show the people of Colombia that there are disappeared here and we remember them.

The other piece of the work we do is legal assistance and documentation. We document from the first moment that a person is disappeared. We document everything including the fact that the government does not respond. Legal assistance includes taking the person to the different NGOs. Another area is the internal structure, fund raising, and collaboration with other organizations. We receive some funding but it is shrinking.

ASFADDES is responding to the needs of the families of the detained and disappeared. Likewise, there are other sites of resistance. When the delegation visited El Cedro, a local community outside of Popayan, we were told,

We don’t want the FTAA because producers, subsidized by the U.S., come down and undersell the local farmers. For example, coffee, they use chemical input in their farming. Now they’re pushing eucalyptus, which uses up resources, big companies like Monsanto. Now, we are looking to develop our own seeds from around here and not to use chemicals and that gives us an economy that promotes our own well-being. We know that you like these things because you also like organic agriculture. Our problem is water, the water springs are low. We have to look for another spring for our water. We are looking to reforestation. We love these trees. We are so proud. I can tell you about this place, El Cedro, what we have accomplished. We will continue to be strong and move forward.

In the next section, I give a brief description of Plan Colombia and present some of the ways in which others are taking part in the struggle to alleviate the effects of social injustice and to end the violence.

Plan Colombia, Armed Actors and Sites of Resistance

Everyday we struggle to improve our communities. All we want is a dignified life, to recover our culture that we have lost, reclaim our history, so we can retain it. We have income generation for the countryside. With all the human rights violations, it is hard to go forward. Don’t believe what they say in the media, that we are all terrorists and drug dealers. We are hard working people (Campesino).

Under Presidents Clinton and Bush, Plan Colombia is the latest aid package and initiative designed to bring about an end to the violence and drug trafficking in Colombia. It is also includes strategies that are designed to stabilize the economy, promote trade and investment and social development.

The plan includes ten strategies (economic, fiscal and financial, military, judicial and human rights, counter-narcotics, alternative development, social participation, human development, peace and international affairs) designed to address all aspects of the problems Colombia faces (Ecumenical Human Rights Commission of Ecuador (CEDHU), 2001).

Of these ten strategies, the bulk of the funding goes to military and counter-narcotics strategies. While Colombians are suffering health problems, environmental degradation and the loss of legal crops from the aerial spraying, foreign companies are benefitting. For example, Lockheed Martin, Textan Industries and United Technologies manufacture the armaments and helicopters used in the spraying and Monsanto produces RoundUp Ultra, the chemical used in the spraying.

RoundUp Ultra is a highly concentrated version of Monsanto's glyphosate herbicide, with additional surfactants to increases its lethality.… Over the past century, global water supplies have been contaminated with the full gamut of Monsanto's chemicals, including PCBs, dioxin and glyophosate (Roundup). So now the company, seeing a profitable market niche, is taking control of the public water resources they polluted, filtering it, and selling it back to the people. In short, Monsanto is making a double profit by polluting the world's scarce freshwater resources, privately taking ownership of that water, filtering it, and selling it back to those who can afford to pay for it (Organic Consumers, 2005).

(Ecumenical Human Rights Commission of Ecuador (CEDHU), 2001)

The most onerous part of Plan Colombia is that it appears to ignore human rights violations and the destruction of the environment. For example, we were told of the situation of the banana workers when the delegation attended the Fourth Congress of Women Workers CUT (Central Unitario de Trabajadores), Women and Society, held in Bogotá.

The first women with whom we spoke worked on large banana plantations. The majority of plantation jobs in Colombia’s banana industry are held by Afro-Colombians. They told us that in the agribusiness sector women are discriminated against because they cannot be fired if they get pregnant. Companies either do not hire women or the women must submit to sterilization if they want to obtain employment. There are no women in management or upper level positions.

Colombia is considered to be the most dangerous country in the world for union leaders. Over 4,000 union activists have been murdered since 1980 (Witness for Peace, 2004).

In 2003, 172 trade unionists were assassinated, 164 received death threats, 26 were kidnapped, 7 disappeared and 50 families were forced to flee into exile (Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), 2004).

The banana workers also voiced fears of traveling in Colombia by land. One of the women said, “This is the first time we had to travel by land. But the men never have to travel by land. For women in Colombia, being part of a union is very difficult.”

Banana plantation workers face acute public health risks from exposure to the chemicals used in the agribusinesses. The women we spoke to stated that the chemicals used on the banana farms have caused rashes, ovarian cysts and impaired vision.

The women stated that 80 percent of the women in Uraba region were widowed heads of their households. “When our husbands die or our fathers die or our children, we are the ones who cry, we are the ones who have to keep the family going.” However, these women have found the strength to become agents of change by addressing those responsible for the conditions under which they work. Two years ago, they began to do research by passing out surveys to discover the concerns of the women in their industry. With the results of their research, they launched a campaign, In Banana Plantations, we accept women (En las fincas bananeros, aceptamos mujeres). This campaign promotes women’s labor, sexual and reproductive rights in the agribusiness sector.

After the Conference in Bogota, we travelled to Popayan in the Department (State) of Cauca. From there we visited organizations in the city of Popayan and the rural communities of Timbió and Cajibio. In Timbió we visited the local Committee for the Integration of the Colombian Macizo (CIMA). One of the primary goals of CIMA is to make known the plight of the civilian non-combatants– the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Macizo—who for years have been caught in the crossfire. The Human Rights Coordinator of the Women’s Program of CIMA spoke eloquently about the militarization of the region. She told us—

For 50 years, there was no presence of armed actors in the area. Then military incursions into Santa Rosa began in 2003. This has caused a lot of hardship in Santa Rosa and other communities because farmers have been pointed out as insurgents. The last mass detentions in Santa Rosa occurred in 2003 and 2004. Students, old people— the only thing that matters is that you’re indigenous and a farmer.

The number of selective assassinations is also on the rise. There used to be one assassination per year. This year there has been six. It keeps increasing. They torture people, come into your house and take you. Landmines have also increased from last year. So, as women, we ask what is happening. Why are these atrocities happening? Why has there been such an increase in 2004?

These people have only small plots of land to grow crops to feed themselves. The spraying, the fumigations are poisoning the crops, causing physical deformities in children, and this is because of fumigation. It is hard to prove and the Health Department says those are just regular illnesses.

The public forces and the paramilitaries are the same people. The paramilitaries are not doing massacres any more. They are killing one by one. They are not spreading the word anymore but, we know.

But in the midst of this devastation, our struggles and our pain, we work to effect change. We work with other groups and the women are working on nutrition issues and ways to help ourselves. Now in communities women are starting gardens. This is a form of resistance. Women, men come forward and tell them what we are doing.

In Popayan we visited the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC). Cauca’s Indigenous peoples had lost much of their land and CRIC was founded in 1981 to address the right to land. On our visit to the CRIC office we spoke with the coordinator of women’s programs. She told us decisions in CRIC are made by the Cabildo (Council) and until a few years ago, Cabildo members have been men. Since 1996, there has been an increase in the involvement of women. Now, seven out of 87 Cabildo members are women. It is a small number but when you think that there were none before, it is an important change.

Before the Spanish came, there was harmony between men and women. Men and women complemented each other and there was much more harmony. When the Spanish came we had to adapt to new ways and a new religion. At this point discrimination began. Men began to discriminate against women. And this was brought to us. An example of the violence of the Spanish is they would rape the women repeatedly and cut their nipples off so the couldn’t feed the babies.

Woman began to fight back against the Spanish and the men. Women also fought in the struggles and were leaders. Women have always played a part in the struggle, in the process of defending their land, defending the right of the land. Gaetana and Rosilina were two who gave their lives … for the struggle.

We were informed that that in addition to their founding concerns about land rights, they are now concerned about the behaviour of armed actors. She told us—

One of the problems, in terms of government policies and the militarization of our territories, is the presence of the military. They like our young women, make them pregnant and leave. This is a big social problem.

CRIC has expanded their mandate to address these and other new problems.

Women became more involved in CRIC and the struggle for land rights. Women were concerned about the decisions being made and asking were the concerns of women being addressed. First we had to come together. As more indigenous women were trained we began to identify and address social problems.

For example, the “Treca” or exchange is the indigenous peoples’ resistance to Free Trade Agreements. They barter local crops and products with each other. Therefore, each farmer, craftsperson and artisan bypasses the unjust prices for their goods and the necessity to buy foreign goods that undercut local producers.

If ideas or strategies like the treca were to become popular and were allowed to take hold, it would offset free trade agreements’ devastating effect. However, I do not believe that these groups can achieve the economic autonomy they deserve without outside help. For example, one way we can help is to buy fairly traded goods, such as fair trade coffee, tea, and cocoa; union made clothing; and support local vendors who sell fairly traded goods. In the next section, I show how some returning delegates joined ‘la lucha’ (the struggle).

The Way Forward in Solidarity

The power of spreading the word… When governments speak they don’t speak the truth.

I have tried to show three things with this paper. First, the actions of armed actors have resulted in the displacement of many campesinos, Indigenous and African Colombians. Second, the interests of foreign business, including U.S. companies like Monsanto are profiting from, and in some instances causing, the deleterious conditions of these populations. Third, and most importantly, I have shown the resilience, diligence and creativity of the people in dealing with their adverse condition. Now, it is time to suggest what we can do by showing what has been done by some of the delegates on their return home.

Gail is a founding member of Witness for Peace says she,
gave a talk to a house meeting of about 20 people, gave a public talk in Moore Square downtown to about 100 which was televised...wrote a piece on Colombia which has been published in a number of places and had a letter to the editor published.

Ann has
visited Senator’s office and made presentation on Colombia to staff. As a result of my last trip to Colombia two years ago, Syracuse now has a Sister Community with Cajibio in Cauca. This year we met with an organizer from the Community and material aid was delivered. This relationship will continue.

Brenda

has had articles published in the Winston-Salem Journal: “U.S. Aid Worsens Poverty, Oppression” (September 27, 2003) and “Brenda-Witness puts Plan Colombia in sharp focus” (December 18, 2004). In addition to her membership in Witness for Peace, she is a member of the Peace Brigade.

Margaret, who has written articles and put on a photo exhibit among other actions, stated:
Well, I knew already during the 2002 delegation that I would want to be able to return to Popayán, Cauca, to offer some trauma-reduction support to the families of the Association for the Families of the Detained and Disappeared (ASFADDES), with whom our delegation had spent an amazing afternoon and evening. In April of 2004, I was approached by a doctor/art collector who wanted to purchase MB Hopkins' painting from me. To make a long and wonderful story short, the local arts community rallied around a project that enabled me (a bodyworker) to return to Popayán in August 2004 with two psychotherapists (one of whom, Judy Bierbaum, was also on the 2002 delegation) and a translator, in order to offer trauma-reduction work to families affected by the forced disappearance of loved ones. We spent about a week in Popayán doing that, and trying to lay the groundwork for future work.

Patrick states:
since my first trip to Colombia, in 1997, I have worked toward forming a group here in Los Angeles to do advocacy for the nonviolent efforts in Colombia. I continue to monitor the situation there, to respond to urgent actions, and to inform others about congressional action and alert them to appropriate times to contact Congress about specific legislation. My subsequent visits to Colombia have broadened and deepened my understanding of the situation and therefore my ability and motivation to continue doing those things.

This is but a small sample of the people from Witness for Peace delegations who have returned home and have joined the struggle of their Colombian brothers and sisters for peace and justice. In essence part of what I have tried to do in writing this paper is fulfill one of my promises, which was to share the plight of the people we visited with the Canadian people in general and the academic community in particular. However, it is hard for me to convey the emotions that accompany being witness to what we saw in Colombia. Marilou, a member of our delegation captures so closely the unarticulated feelings that I have about our experience in Colombia and in writing this paper. Her words are the best way to conclude and if one listens closely enough, these words are also an invitation.

I realized that I don’t believe I shared with you the true impact of my Colombia experience (which I am actually still trying to come to terms with). Granted, one of my goals is to educate others about what’s going on in Colombia, but the reality is, I only understand but a miniscule piece of what’s going on there (or in the world for that matter!) and my contribution now is not so much to be able to have intellectual discussions about Colombia and the impact of US policy on other countries because … it’s not that simple, it isn’t – the war has been going on in Colombia for over 40 years and I don’t know the answer to how we put an end to it. What I do know is that I connected with so many incredibly beautiful, gentle and strong souls while I was there. I do know that my heart was touched by their hope and struggle for a day when the words “illegal armed actors”, “massacres” and “disappeared” would no longer be a part of their vocabulary; when mothers standing up for basic human rights didn’t have to worry every morning if their kiss goodbye to their child would be their last kiss; when union leaders didn’t have to worry if today would be their last; when a young woman whose father “disappeared” ten years ago no longer has to shed any more tears because she can once again be in the arms of her dad; when campesinos can grow subsistence crops and not have their land fumigated; when Afro-Colombians can go back to their land and not fear for their life….(Marilou, 2004).

Other Works Cited:
Amnesty International USA. (2004). Organizacion Femenina Popular -- Colombia. Retrieved January 12, 2005, from http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/holiday/Colombia.pdf

Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women. (1995). Retrieved March 9, 2005, from http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/dec-ch.htm

Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). (2004). CLUW decries exploitation of women workers by U.S. multinational corporations. Retrieved January 12, 2005, from http://www.cluw.org/programs-GlobalEconomy.html

Colombia Week. (2005). Tuesday, February 8, 2005: ETC. Retrieved March 5, 2005, from www.colombiaweek.org

Ecumenical Human Rights Commission of Ecuador (CEDHU). (2001). Plan Colombia and its Consequences in Ecuador. Retrieved March 9, 2005, from http://www.colombiajournal.org/plancolombia_ecuador.htm

Gibbs, T., and Leech, G. (2003). Displacing Development in the Choco. Retrieved January 10, 2005, from http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia169.htm

Hodges, S. (2004). Notes of a Botanist on CAVIDA’s Fifth International Encounter, December 4-9, 2004. Retrieved February, 2005, from http://www.chicagoans.net/

Minorities At Risk. (2004). Assessment for Blacks in Colombia. Retrieved November 13, 2004, from http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=10001#top

Organic Consumers. (2005). Monsanto Corporation: A Biotech Company Responsible for Roundup Ready Soybeans. Retrieved March 9, 2005, from http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

Podur, J., and Witness for Peace. (2001). The Afro-Colombians: AFRODES. Retrieved November 14, 2004, from http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/colombia/afrodes.htm

Witness for Peace. (2002). Soacha - City of displaced Colombians. Retrieved November 13, 2004, from http://www.circlevision.org/colombia/reportsbog/soacha/reportsoacha.html

Witness for Peace. (2004). How Would AFTA Impact Colombia Civil Society? Retrieved November 13, 2004, from http://www.witnessforpeace.org

~~~SisterSea~~~

A Letter to Tina

Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff

War / No More Trouble

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Winter Feast for the Soul

Downtown Eastside New Year's Frybread Giveaway

Christmas Eve 2008

The Arrows of White Privilege

COLOMBIA REFLECTION: Where things are worth more than people

Where Is The Justice?

Indigenous Peoples' Voice Censured at UN

Tar Sands & Water - A

Tar Sands & Water - B

Eli Painted Crow - Voices of Women Veterans

Urgent: U.S. Homeland Security preparing to seize Apache lands

Save Our Rivers

Coalition Against Uranium Mining at Robertsville Mine

Algonquin Blockade Ends, Mediation Begins

Pink - Dear Mr. President - Live

The Struggle Against a Uranium Mine

Is British Columbia Nigeria North?

Shell methane project in Sacred Headwaters triggers Financial Times ad

Sacred Headwaters Rally

Native Rights Rally in Queen's Park

Who's Really on Trial Here?

Making a Stand at Desert Rock

An Alternate Route To Social Justice

CPT Sends Team to First Nations Blockade

Greenpeace report reveals high profile companies buying Boreal Forest destruction

Chit-chat

Algonquin Alliance Statement Against Uranium Exploration and Mining

As Long as the River Flows exerpt from You Tube

Grassy Narrows First Nation (from You Tube)

Learning to Trust

3D Dialogue: The Catholic Worker Movement

Clear-Cuts and Blueberries

Quote from The Colour of Fear

Reflection

Upon suffering beyond suffering

Hate Crime Against Aboriginal Day

Love, Light & Healing

Seeking Participants for Research on Recovery

Environmental racism and trees

In print

Peace and All Good, Dear Bishop Ruiz

The month of May left a footprint in the history of Colombia

Reflection

Residents of Coast Salish Territory Support Six Nations

Racism: Is There a Future Different From the Present?

Boycott Film Press Release

The High Cost of Free Trade for Indigenous and Afro-Colombians

~SisterSea~