Thurs 13 Jan noon – Save Ottawa’s old-growth forest Rally!

~ solidarity ~ Leave a comment

Protect the Beaver Pond Forest in Kanata


We demand the City of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Province of Ontario to hold the development of the Beaver Pond Forest!

The Beaver Pond Forest is on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Territory.  All level of the government – the City of Ottawa, the NCC and the Province of Ontario must respect the requests of the Algonquin First Nation communities as well as the local Ottawa community to do a full archeological assessment of possible medicine wheels and artifacts dated back 10,000 years ago.

~~ RALLY! ~~

Noon, Thurs Jan 13
Meet at the Human Rights Monument, Elgin at Lisgar, next to City Hall

GOAL

This is a rally to demand that the City of Ottawa, National Capital Commission (NCC), and the Province of Ontario step up and do their job: order Urbandale Corporations and KNL Development Inc. not to clear-cut or blast any of the Beaver Pond Forest at least until spring when an archaeological assessment can be re-done.

This is for ecological, archaeological, cultural, spiritual and humane reasons. All levels of government could halt development based on new evidence that the archaeological assessment needs to be redone. But none is taking responsibility. So we are taking action to remind them to do their jobs and make the City of Ottawa a better place to live, for us now and for future generations.

PLAN for Thurs Jan 13:

  • 12pm (noon): Assemble at the Human Rights Monument at corner of Lisgar & Elgin, next to City Hall
  • Bring your own signs, we also have some made which will be used in a subsequent Activist Art show (first come, first served 😉
  • statements will be read, letters delivered, songs shared. We will march to the NCC Office at 40 Elgin Street, past their Info Ctr across from, Parliament Hill, and end back at City Hall. Exact schedule TBA.
  • Be musical (bring instruments & noisemakers!)
  • Main Message to City Hall, NCC, & Province: Take Responsibility! Do the Right Thing: Save Beaver Pond Forest!

MORE INFO

“Some twelve thousand years ago the South March Highlands where the Beaver Pond Forest is found was an island surrounded by the waters of the ice age created Champlain Sea. As the water receded, a rich and fertile land renewed its relationship with the winds. The birds, insects, animals and people living on the highlands at that time carried the seeds of trees and also pollen of the islandís plant life further and further into their ever-widening territory.” – Algonquin elder Albert Dumont

Now the developers are set to destroy the forest in order to build a subdivision. The commencement of destruction is immanent – we need to take a stand NOW!

Community voices:
http://the5thc.blogspot.com/
http://candle4kindness.wordpress.com/

A letter from Grandfather William Commanda, Algonquin Elder, to the relevant public officials: http://www.ottawasgreatforest.com/Site/Algonquin_Information.html

Details on inadequate environmental assessment & storm waster management plans: http://renaud.ca/wordpress/?p=716

TAKE ACTION:

Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa, Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca
 Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario, dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer of NCC, marie.lemay@ncc-ccn.ca
 Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Culture, mchan.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Peter Evans, Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister for Culture, Peter.Evans@ontario.ca
 Chris Bentley, Ontario Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, cbentley.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Gordon O’Connor, Federal Cabinet Minister and MP for Kanata, oconng@parl.gc.ca
Norm Sterling, MPP for Kanata, norm.sterlingco@pc.ola

Also write to the developers to hold the development of the Beaver Pond Forest and do a full archeological assessment of that area:
Urbandale: mjarvis@urbandale.com – 613-731-6331– http://urbandale.com/corp
Richcraft: info@richcraft.com – 613-739-7111 – http://richcraft.com

Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Do-Not-Cut-Beaver-Pond-Forest-or-SMH/

Join the network to help protect this precious land:
– email info@ottawasgreatforest.com and ask to stay updated
– or on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46087029890

UPDATES

Any updates will be on the FB Event page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155983114454420 and at http://candle4kindness.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/save-beaver-pond-forest-rally-at-city-hall-13-january-noon/

Research published on media coverage differences of missing and murdered women

~ waawaaskesh

Kristen Gilchrist, PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, has published some of her research in the latest edition of Feminist Media Studies.

It takes a critical look at the differences between news coverage for missing/murdered Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women.

“NEWSWORTHY” VICTIMS?
Exploring differences in Canadian local press coverage of missing/murdered Aboriginal and White women

Kristen Gilchrist

More than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the 1980s yet press attention to this violence is relatively minimal. This paper compares local press coverage of matched cases: three missing/murdered Aboriginal women from Saskatchewan and three missing/murdered White women from Ontario. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses indicate stark disparities in the amount and content of coverage between groups. The Aboriginal women received three and a half times less coverage; their articles were shorter and less likely to appear on the front page. Depictions of the Aboriginal women were also more detached in tone and scant in detail in contrast to the more intimate portraits of the White women. Drawing on feminist media studies and theories of intersectionality, this paper argues that the simultaneous devaluation of Aboriginal womanhood and idealization of middle-class White womanhood contributes to broader systemic inequalities which re/produce racism, sexism, classism, and colonialism. This paper raises concerns about the broader implications of the relative invisibility of missing/murdered Aboriginal women in the press, and their symbolic annihilation from the Canadian social landscape.

Gilchrist, Kristen (2010) ‘“Newsworthy” Victims?’, Feminist Media Studies, 10: 4, 373 — 390.

Barriere Lake Algonquins and supporters rally for sovereignty

~ solidarity

On December 13, 2010, over a hundred community members from Barriere Lake, along with supporters from Montreal and Toronto, drove through the snow to get to Parliament Hill to demand the government take back section 74 and restore their customary rights.

MEDIA REPORTS:

STATEMENTS:

PICTURES:

TAKE ACTION:
Please CALL or WRITE to John Duncan, Minister of Indian Affairs, demand:
* Canada and Quebec must honor the Trilateral Agreement they’ve signed with Barriere Lake in 1991
* Canada must respect Barriere Lake’s traditional government – REVERSE the forcible assimilation by rolling back Section 74 of the Indian Act

Media Release: Remote Algonquin First Nations travels en masse to Ottawa to protest Harper government’s attacks on their community and environmental agreement

~ solidarity

Remote Algonquin First Nations travels en masse to Ottawa to protest Harper government’s attacks on their community and environmental agreement

Photo opportunity: A delegation will deliver a present — a giant copy of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a community resolution against assimilation– to Ministers Duncan and Harper at their offices

OTTAWA, DEC 13/CNW/– More than a hundred members of the Barriere Lake Algonquin First Nation traveled to Ottawa today to demand the Harper government honour a landmark environmental agreement and stop waging a campaign of forcible assimilation against the community. They will be joined by a broad network of hundreds of supporters, including the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Council of Canadians, KAIROS, the New Democratic Party and Green Party, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and many others.

“How can anyone trust a government that won’t honour its word?” says Tony Wawatie, a Barriere Lake community spokesperson. In 1991, Canada and Quebec signed the United Nations-praised Trilateral Agreement with Barriere Lake to create a sustainable development plan for 10,000 square kilometers of the community’s traditional territory, but both the federal and provincial governments have refused to implement it.

“This agreement would allow us to protect our land and be economically independent. But Canada and Quebec don’t want to share the land’s wealth. So the Harper government is violating our constitutional rights by trying to forcibly abolish our traditional government, which maintains our sacred connection to the land and our ability to protect the environment,” says Wawatie.

In August, the Harper government imposed an Indian Act election process on Barriere Lake, in which less than a dozen community members cast ballots, while the rest of the community boycotted. Almost 200 people signed a resolution rejecting the entire process, wishing to preserve the traditional governance system they have used for countless generations. Four councillors and a Chief were acclaimed, but even the Chief resigned in protest.

“This is an undemocratic, unwanted, and foreign governance regime installed in order to derail our environmental agreement” says Wawatie. “Minister Duncan and the Harper government must reverse their draconian action and respect our right to maintain our traditional government.”

In an op-ed published today in the Globe & Mail, author and Giller-prize winner Joseph Boyden called on the Harper government to end its “abusive, bullying, and undemocratic” treatment of Barriere Lake.

“It would be a terrible tragedy for [Barriere Lake’s] customs to be struck down by the mere stroke of a Minister’s pen after they have served this First Nation well for so many decades and centuries,” National Chief Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations wrote Minister Duncan in a letter recently, urging him to reverse his department’s actions. “The Chiefs in Assembly have instructed me to stand with and in support of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake and I will do so. My preference is to do so in a way that promotes reconciliation with the department rather than confrontation.”

“Indigenous people who gather, hunt, and fish their food have an unmatched knowledge of the land and an interest in caring for it. They are the front-line of defense in protecting the environment for all of us,” says Arthur Manuel, director of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade, and member of the Defenders of the Land network. “This is also their right because it is their land. This right is affirmed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Canadian Constitution. It’s time for the Canadian government to deal honourably and respect that right.”

“Maintaining a traditional governance system that is rooted in their cultural heritage is an integral part of fulfilling mandates that meet the vision of a sustainable community,” said Elizabeth May, national leader of the Green Party of Canada.

-30-

PRESS CONFERENCE

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 13, at 11:00 AM

WHERE: Charles Lynch Room (130-S, Centre Block), Parliament Hill, Ottawa

WHO: Charlie Angus- NDP MP,  Arthur Manuel, spokesperson for the Indigenous Network of Economies and Trade, Tony Wawatie – Barriere Lake Community spokesperson

RALLY

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 13, from NOON to 2PM

WHERE: March begins on Parliament Hill, with speeches then starting at 1-1:15pm in front of Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan’s office at the Confederation building (Bank & Wellington).

For further information:

Tony Wawatie, Barriere Lake community spokesperson: 819-860-4121

To arrange interviews : 514-550-8706

For more information: www.barrierelakesolidarity.org

French version of this release (.doc): http://bit.ly/i3ul9T

For Joseph Boyden’s op-ed in the Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/why-we-try-to-protect-our-land-lessons-from-barriere-lake/article1833684/

 

-30-

MEDIA ADVISORY: Harper government’s assault on environmental agreements and democracy in Barriere Lake First Nation to be exposed and protested Monday

~ solidarity ~ Leave a comment

MEDIA ADVISORY:
Harper government’s assault on environmental agreements and democracy in Barriere Lake First Nation to be exposed and protested Monday

OTTAWA, DEC 9/CNW/– Hundreds of members of the small Algonquin First Nation of Barriere Lake and of a broad network of unions, churches, human rights groups and the New Democratic and Green Party will march in Ottawa on Monday, challenging the Harper government to honour a landmark environmental agreement and to stop waging a campaign of forcible assimilation against the community.

Earlier in the morning, press conference speakers will present startling details about how Minister of Indian Affairs John Duncan and the Harper government have been flagrantly violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, belying their endorsement of it in November.

They will speak about how Minister Duncan and the Harper government have imposed a government on Barriere Lake selected by only a handful of band members against overwhelming community opposition — an undemocratic, unwanted, and foreign governance regime installed in order to derail a landmark environmental pact signed with Barriere Lake. The agreement is intended to establish a sustainable development plan for logging over 10,000 square kilometres.

National Chief Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations has proposed to undertake a joint fact-finding mission with Indian and Northern Affairs to resolve the governance situation, but Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan has not responded.

PRESS CONFERENCE
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 13, at 11:00 A M
WHERE: Charles Lynch Room (130-S, Centre Block), Parliament Hill, Ottawa
WHO:  Charlie Angus- NDP MP,  Arthur Manuel, spokesperson for the Indigenous Network of Economies and Trade, Tony Wawatie – Barriere Lake Community spokesperson

RALLY
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 13, at NOON
WHERE:Parliament Hill, with speeches at 1pm in front of Minister Duncan’s office at the Confederation building (Bank & Wellington) , including representatives from major Unions, KAIROS , Council of Canadians, Green Party, Indigenous Environmental Network, and others

For further information:
Tony Wawatie, Barriere Lake community spokesperson: 819-860-4121
For media backgrounders : 514-550-8706
For more information: http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org

Dec 11: Barriere Lake Human Rights Delegation Report Back

~ waawaaskesh

Barriere Lake Human Rights Delegation Report Back

1:30 pm
Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010
PSAC building JK Wylie boardoom, 233 Gilmour (at Metcalfe)

15 delegates from across Ontario and Quebec attended a human rights delegation to the Algonquin Nation of Barriere Lake this August.  In this trip, these delegates visited the Algonquin reserve at Lac Rapid and their traditional territory, 45 minutes north of the reserve.  The purpose of this delegation was for the delegates to learn and understand the history of the struggle of Barriere Lake.  And in return, it was for the community to gain more support for their fight over their self-determination and self-governance.  More than 3 months later, the situation of Barriere Lake has not changed ….

The Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Mitchikanibikok Inik, is a small yet strong First Nation.  Their 59-acre reserve at Lac Rapid is 4 hours north of Ottawa, in north western Quebec.  Their traditional territory covers the entire area of La Verendrye wildlife reserve. Mitchikanibikok Inik has never surrendered Aboriginal title to its traditional territory.

For those who attended this delegation, this trip was such an inspiring experience; all expressed their gratitude and willingness to support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake for their struggle to protect their land and assert their sovereignty.  One of the delegates, Ramsey Hart of Mining Watch Canada, said:

“Visiting Barrier Lake filled me with a strange combination of hope and anger. The anger from the Canadian and Quebec government’s despicable failure to honour an agreement that is so very reasonable, from seeing a dam creating electricity from flooded Algonquin lands that by-passes the community on its way south while noisy, polluting, expensive diesel generators provide electricity for the community. The hope came from the strength of the traditions, the generosity, the path of healing and the beautiful lands of the Alqonquin. At the end of the day the hope won-out but the anger is still there”

To be in solidarity with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake and their continuous demand for Canada to respect their traditional government and trailblazing environmental agreement – the 1991 Trilateral Agreement, we would like to invite you to join 3 of the 15 delegates as they share their experience and reflection from such inspiring trip. They are:

Colin Stuart, Christian Peacemaker Teams
Dylan Penner, Council of Canadians,  Ottawa Peace Assembly
Ramsey Hart, Mining Watch Canada

This event will be facilitated by Pei-Ju, Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement – Ottawa.

A DAY OF ACTION to support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake has been planned for Dec. 13.  This event is also our attempt to invite you to learn about the community.  And hopefully, you will also be inspired and decide to stand together with Barriere Lake and us (their supporters) for the day of action!

For more information, please visit www.barrierelakesolidarity.org
To see photos from the delegation, please go to http://bit.ly/hd7Xqz

Background: HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT DESTROYING BARRIERE LAKE’S TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT? AND WHY?

The government has used an archaic section of the Indian Act – section 74 – to unilaterally impose a different system of government on Barriere Lake.

Barriere Lake’s traditional government – open to community members who have connection to the land, and in which Elders guide potential leaders and safeguard their customs – ensures that community members maintain their sacred bond to the land and their hunting way of life. The band council electoral system the Harper government has imposed destroys the sacred governance bond the community has with the land. By breaking Barriere Lake’s connection to the land, the Canadian and Quebec governments hope to get away with violating trailblazing environmental agreements and with illegally clear-cutting in Barriere Lake’s traditional territory.

The overwhelming majority of community members want to protect their traditional governance system, but the bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are spreading the misinformation that they are only a small group.

Through the summer, the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada bureaucracy ran an illegal process, imposed by the Quebec police, to bring the new system into the community. Fewer than a dozen ballots were sent in to nominate candidates for an Indian Act Chief and Council, who where then seated by acclamation. Meanwhile, almost 200 community members had signed a resolution rejecting this process! That represents a majority of community members who are eligible to participate in their political process.

Even the acclaimed Chief resigned in protest, refusing to break ranks with the community’s majority. But four rogue band councillors with no community support have been illegally making decisions on behalf of Barriere Lake ever since. Shuttled to secret meetings with forestry companies and government officials, these councilors are being usined by the government to derail Barriere Lake’s precedent-setting environmental agreements and to facilitate illegal clear-cut logging.

Youth in the community are leading the movement to protect their traditional government and to heal and overcome the community divisions created by the internal meddling of government bureaucrats.

They are demanding the Harper Government cancel the imposition on Barriere Lake of the section 74 Indian Act band council system and respect their right to select leaders according to their traditional system of government.

DEC 13, OTTAWA: Day of Action to Support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake

~ solidarity

DEMAND THAT CANADA RESPECT BARRIERE LAKE’S TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT AND TRAILBLAZING ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS

Monday December 13, noon, Parliament Hill

MARCH STARTS AT NOON, PARLIAMENT HILL, ENDS AT THE OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, CONFEDERATION BUILDING (BANK AND WELLINGTON)

Supported by: Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Council of Canadians, KAIROS, the New Democratic Party, Green Party, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mining Watch, Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Ottawa, Barriere Lake Solidarity-Toronto, Barriere Lake Solidarity-Montreal

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168050586559745&num_event_invites=0#!/event.php?eid=168050586559745

For more info and to download flyers: www.barrierelakesolidarity.org

What if a foreign regime was destroying your system of government, so it could then steal your resources and prevent you from environmentally protecting your homeland? This is what the Harper Government and federal bureaucrats are doing to the First Nation of Barriere Lake.

For more than two decades, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have been demonstrating environmental leadership to the rest of Canada, campaigning to stop destructive clear-cut logging and to implement a sustainable development plan in their homeland in north-western Quebec.

But multi-national forestry corporations and government bureaucrats have refused to honour any of the agreements signed with Barriere Lake. They have tried at every turn to undermine the small community, one of the poorest in the country, and prevent them from implementing and realizing their vision for the protection and stewardship of the forests.

The David-vs-Goliath story now has a dark new twist: the Conservative government and bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are interfering in Barriere Lake’s internal affairs, using section 74 of the Indian Act to forcibly assimilate and destroy the community’s traditional government — a traditional government the community has used for countless generations and which maintains their hunting way of life and respect for the environment.

Led by Barriere Lake youth, the overwhelming majority of the community are struggling to preserve their traditional government, so they can continue protecting the watersheds, forests, wildlife and lands for all future generations, Native and non-Native.

The Harper government is violating the Canadian Constitution, which protects the Aboriginal right to self-government. They are violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, even though they have now endorsed it.

Join the Algonquins of Barriere Lake on Parliament Hill as they demand the Harper government and federal bureaucrats reject the use of section 74 and respect the community’s traditional government and  vision for environmental protection!

Background: How is the Government Destroying Barriere Lake’s Traditional Government? and Why?

The government has used an archaic section of the Indian Act – section 74 – to unilaterally impose a different system of government on Barriere Lake.

Barriere Lake’s traditional government – open to community members who have connection to the land, and in which Elders guide potential leaders and safeguard their customs – ensures that community members maintain their connection to the land and their hunting way of life. The band council electoral system the Harper government has imposed destroys the sacred governance bond the community has with the land. By breaking Barriere Lake’s connection to the land, the Canadian and Quebec governments hope to get away with violating trailblazing environmental agreements and with illegally clear-cutting in Barriere Lake’s traditional territory.

The overwhelming majority of community members want to protect their traditional governance system, but the bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are spreading the misinformation that they are only a small group.

Through the summer, the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada bureaucracy ran an illegal process, imposed by the Quebec police, to bring the new system into the community. Fewer than a dozen ballots were sent in to nominate candidates for an Indian Act Chief and Council, who where then seated by acclamation. Meanwhile, almost 200 community members had signed a resolution rejecting this process! That represents a majority of community members who are eligible to participate in their political process.

Even the acclaimed Chief resigned in protest, refusing to break ranks with the community’s majority. But four rogue band councillors with no community support have been illegally making decisions on behalf of Barriere Lake ever since. Shuttled to secret meetings with forestry companies and government officials, these councilors are being used by the government to derail Barriere Lake’s precedent-setting environmental agreements and to facilitate illegal clear-cut logging.

Youth in the community are leading the movement to protect their traditional government and to heal and overcome the community divisions created by the internal meddling of government bureaucrats.

They are demanding the Harper Government cancel the imposition on Barriere Lake of the section 74 Indian Act band council system and respect their right to select leaders according to their traditional system of government.

Nov30 (film) 3rd World Canada – Ottawa premiere

~ waawaaskesh

Ottawa Premiere of the documentary film:
3rd World Canada

Tuesday Nov. 30th, 2010
at the National Arts Centre
Public Screening & Panel discussion: 7:30 P.M.

Tickets: $18.00
Paypal online or reserve & pay at the door
http://thirdworldcanada.ca/order
andree@andreecazabon.ca, (613) 755-5315
RSVP strongly recommended
(Toronto event at the ROM was sold out)

Engage with National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, Participants in the film from remote Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (K.I.), and Gemini-nominee local filmmaker, Andrée Cazabon

An invitation to all Canadians to support the reconciliation movement and close the gap in standards of living

Parts of proceeds to go to:
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and ONEXONE breakfast program

Through intimate testimonies, ‘Third World Canada’ reveals an impoverished First Nations community and its struggles to care for eight children left behind by their parents’ suicides.

www.thirdworldcanada.ca

SEE THE FILM AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Nov25: Call for Solidarity in Ottawa (John Moore)

~ waawaaskesh

A CALL FOR SOLIDARITY IN OTTAWA: Come show support for unjustly convicted Ojibway man John Moore as his struggle against the racist criminal justice system reaches the floor of Parliament!

WHEN: Thursday, November 25, at 10am (note new time – 10am! … and get there early to leave time to go through security)

WHERE: Parliamentary gallery

WHAT: On November 25, 2010, Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault will be presenting a petition in Parliament calling for the Department of Justice to order a judicial review of John Moore’s unjust conviction for second degree murder in 1978. Moore’s trials were tainted with systemic racism, and the law under which he was convicted was ruled unconstitutional in the late 1980s in another case. Yet Moore continues to bear the burden of the stigma of this conviction.

This is a pivotal moment in Moore’s long fight for justice. He and supporters will be traveling from Sudbury to Ottawa for this event, to be visible and present in the gallery in Parliament while Thibeault presents the petition. We are also tentatively planning a media conference for after the presentation of the petitions. Come join us!

If possible, please also let us know that you will be coming. We’re trying to determine how much space we need to reserve in the Parliamentary visitors’ gallery. You can email scottneigh@sympatico.ca or call 705-688-8694.

BACKGROUND: John Moore, an Ojibway man from Serpent River First Nation, was convicted of second degree murder in 1978. This happened despite the fact that he was not present when the crime was committed and had no role whatsoever in perpetrating it, and was based solely on him having spent time earlier that day with the individuals who committed the crime. His trials were tainted with systemic racism. The law under which he was convicted was ruled unconstitutional in the late 1980s in another case, and no one would be convicted under similar circumstances today. Yet Moore continues to bear the burden of the stigma of this conviction. He must regularly report to a parole officer and must ask permission if he wishes to leave the city of Sudbury, Ontario, which is impeding his freedom of movement and his capacity to find meaningful work.

Moore has been actively involved in struggles for social justice in Sudbury for many years. Over the last several months, Moore and supporters in Sudbury, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver have collected over 3000 signatures on a petition asking the Department of Justice to order a judicial review of his conviction. On November 25, 2010, all of this organizing work will reach the national stage. It is crucial that Moore have as many supporters present as  possible.

For more background information on Moore’s struggle for justice, see  http://justiceandfreedomforjohnmoore.blogspot.com

To contact the Justice and Freedom for John Moore committee, please email  sudburyawo@gmail.com or scottneigh@sympatico.ca or call 705-688-8694.

To join the Justice for John Moore Facebook group, go to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=179780527688

To RSVP on Facebbok for the Nov 25 presentation of the petition in Parliament, go to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163470690352109

Nov4: A Windigo Tale (Ottawa premiere)

~ waawaaskesh

Please come join us for the closing event of this year’s Indigenous Sovereignty Week:

Film – A Windigo Tale
Ottawa premiere, followed by discussion with director Armand Garnet Ruffo
… at National Library and Archives auditorium, 395 Wellington St (at Bay)

Free / by donation.
Reception to follow after the film and discussion.

Film website: http://www.awindigotalemovie.com/
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150216568354603

Filmed on Six Nations Reserve in Ontario and in the Ottawa Valley,  A Windigo Tale is Ojibway poet Armand Garnet Ruffo’s directorial debut.  Produced on a shoe-string budget, in demanding conditions, the film ignites the screen with determination and heart and tells a powerful story of intergenerational trauma and healing.

Shot in HD, Ruffo’s feature-length film moves between the breathtaking beauty of a road trip in autumn and the stark winter landscape of a First Nations community.  Harold, a Native grandfather (Gary Farmer), desperate to save his troubled grandson Curtis (Elliot Simon) from a life on the street, shares the dark secrets of their family and community.  In an isolated village, an estranged mother, Doris (Jani Lauzon), and daughter, Lily (Andrea Menard), must reunite to exorcise the voracious Windigo spirit tied to a painful past. Inspired by Ojibway spirituality and based on the history of the residential school system, where generations of Native children were forcibly removed from their families and aggressively assimilated into Euro-Canadian society, A Windigo Tale is both a chilling and redeeming drama.

A Windigo Tale is poet Armand Garnet Ruffo’s feature directorial debut. The original play script won the CBC Arts Performance Showcase Award, and, in 2003, it went into feature script development with acclaimed Canadian playwright and filmmaker Colleen Murphy. Film production began in the winter of 2006 on Six Nations Reserve in Ontario and was completed in 2008 after additional funding was raised. The second segment was filmed in the Ottawa Valley and in Ottawa itself. The following spring, the film went into post-production at The Banff Centre, in Alberta, and in Ottawa. It stars Gary Farmer, Andrea Menard, Jani Lauzon, Philip Riccio, David Gardner, Jon-Paul Kouri and introduces writer Lee Maracle and new-comer Elliot Simon to the screen.

To prepare himself for the making of A Windigo Tale, Armand Garnet Ruffo immersed himself in the study of film and took directorial courses with some of Canada’s best known filmmakers, such as Deepa Mehta and Gary Burns. In the writing of the film, he drew on his own Ojibway heritage, family and community support, his familiarity with Aboriginal literature and culture, and extensive research into the history of the Residential School system in Canada.  He is indebted to the many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who committed themselves to the making of this film.

Armand Garnet Ruffo’s roots extend to the Biscotasing Branch of the Sagamok (Ojibway) First Nation and the Chapleau Fox Lake Cree.  He is currently a professor of Aboriginal Literatures and Creative Writing at Carleton University and divides his time between Ottawa and Fox Lake in northern Ontario.  The author of Opening In The Sky (Theytus Books), Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney (Coteau Books) and At Geronimo’s Grave (Coteau Books), he is currently completing a poetic biography on the life of the renowned Anishnaabe painter, and father of the Woodland School of Painters, Norval Morrisseau, which he intends to turn into a film.

~~~~

This event is part of Indigenous Sovereignty Week 2010 in Ottawa, Oct27-Nov4 – for full details please see www.bit.ly/iswottawa

Organized by: Defenders of the Land; Indigenous Environmental Network; Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO); Bolivia Action Solidarity Network; MiningWatch; Project of Heart; Public Service Alliance of Canada

Sponsors: Canadian Union of Public Employees; Public Service Alliance of Canada; Canadian Union of Postal Workers; OPIRG/GRIPO-Ottawa; PSAC NCR Aboriginal Action Circle; PSAC National Women’s Department; CUPE Local 4600 (at Carleton University); Carleton University Graduate Students Association; PROMdemonium Fund; Canada Council for the Arts