PURPOSE: To witness the motion to dismiss the Human Rights Hearings on whether or not the federal government is treating First Nations children fairly. DATE: June 2 and 3, 2010 (9:30-5:00)
LOCATION: The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, 11th floor, 160 Elgin Street, Ottawa ALGONQUIN TERRITORY
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society is trying to get as much support out to 160 Elgin Street as possible on June 2nd and 3rd. The hearings begin at 9:30, break at 12:00 for lunch and then go until 5:00. If people could come even for a part of that time (like an hour or so) it would be great.
Please click here to read the message from Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society.
This is a historic case because it would be the first time in Canadian history that a Tribunal hearing has dealt with a whole people being discriminated against (systemic discrimination), not just individuals. The impact would be immense. Please come out and show our solidarity with First Nations children and families.
BACKGROUND
On Feb. 26, 2007, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (FNCFCS) filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) alleging that Canada is racially discriminating against First Nations children by providing less child welfare funding, and thus benefits, on reserves.
On June 1, 2010, after nearly one month of walking, the AMUN March will arrive on Parliament Hill to draw attention to ongoing legislative sexism in the Indian Act, and to call people of conscience to join the struggle against it.
AMUN March kicked off its 500 km march from Wendake, QC to the Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 4, 2010 to pursue the fight that was undertaken by Sharon McIvor (see Sharon McIvor’s fight for gender equality in the Indian Act), and to request that the Canadian Government resolve the injustices created by the Indian Act. The Government of Canada introduced Bill C-3 to bolster gender equity in the registration provisions of the Act. However, this Bill is just another continued failed remedial legislation, it partially corrects discriminatory aspects of the Indian Act registration rules (See Sexist Bill C-3 is racist and fatally flawed).
Furthermore, the government of Canada failed to consult with Indigenous Peoples and accommodate their concerns prior to introducing Bill C-3, which violates Section 35 of Canadian Constitution Act of 1982. Not only Bill C-3 does not end discrimination against Indigenous women and their descendants, it also does not address the underlying issue of the Indian Act – categorization of Indian status. If Canada is SINCERE in its promise of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples following the Apology of June 11 2008 and in the recent Throne speech, Canada must recognize and respect the INHERENT RIGHT of Indigenous peoples to govern themselves, to define who can be a citizen of their nation.
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa is one of many groups, including the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and Québec Native Women Inc., calling allies to come out and greet the march as it arrives on Parliament Hill.
Community Feast to Welcome AMUN March
L to R: Vivane Michele, Danielle Guay, Sharon McIvor, and Michèle Audette with her son Yocoisse Sioui. Photographer Gwen Brodsky
6 PM Monday, May 31, 2010
Odawa Friendship Centre, 12 Stirling Ave. Ottawa, Algonquin Territory
Everyone is Welcome to the fest!
Opening ceremony by Elder Annie St. Georges
Speakers:
Michèle Audette and Viviane Michel, Marche Amun Organizers,
Sharon McIvor,
Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, and
Lynn Gehl, Giizhigaate-Mnidoo-Kwe, Makinag Ndoo-dem
Rally & Press Conference
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
11:45 AM Victoria Island
(end of Middle Street, off Chaudière Bridge, follow signs for “Aboriginal Experiences”)
EVERYONE IS WELCOME
12 PM Welcome
Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada
Michèle Audette and Viviane Michel, Marche Amun Organizers
Sharon McIvor, McIvor v. Canada
Dawn Harvard, President of the Ontario Native Women’s Association
Kathleen McHugh, Women’s Council Chair of the Assembly of First Nations
12:45 Closing
1-1:30 PM Press Conference (Charles Lynch Room, 130S, Centre Block) ALL MEDIA WELCOME
The Federal Government had until April 6th, 2010 to amend the Indian Act, but requested the Court of Appeal of British Columbia an extension till July 5th, 2010. It must act. The Indian Act discriminates and marginalizes the Native Peoples since 1876. Ms Sharon McIvor, a Native woman from British Columbia, questioned in Court one of the discriminatory outcomes of this Act, that is the impossibility for a Mother to hand down the Native status to her grand-children when the father of the children is not Native, when this right is recognized for Native fathers in the same situation. It is thanks to 25 years of legal procedures that things will change.
However, the women will go on being subjected to discrimination in such domains as:
The Right to Indian status for themselves and their children (abolish categories)
The Right of Membership to the Band for themselves and their children;
Registration of children whose paternity is questioned or not recognized;
The Right to live in the reserve for themselves, their spouse and their children;
The clause on distribution of lands and services on the reserve;
Property division following a breach/break-up in the relationship;
The Right of Ottawa to determine who is Native
Through history, discrimination founded on sex towards women of First Nations becomes official as soon as 1868, legislative measures then enacting that the Indian status could be handed down only by men. A man who married a non-Native kept his Indian status conferred by the Indian Act, his wife and their children became Indians according to the Law. A woman from a First Nation who married a non-Native or a non-registered Indian lost her aboriginal and treaty rights, as did her children. In the Indian Act jargon, she lost her status.
It is to continue the struggle undertaken by Ms McIvor and request the Canadian Government to settle these injustices of the Indian Act that the AMUN March is held.
Francais
Le gouvernement fédéral avait jusqu’au 6 avril 2010 pour modifier la Loi sur les Indiens, mais a demandé une extension jusqu’au 5 juillet 2010 à la Cour d’appel de Colombie- Britannique. Il doit agir. La Loi sur les Indiens discrimine et marginalise les peuples autochtones depuis 1876. C’est ce qu’a décidé la Cour dans la cause de Mme Sharon McIvor, femme autochtone de la Colombie-Britannique qui a contesté l’un des effets discriminatoires de cette loi, soit l’impossibilité pour une mère de transmettre le statut autochtone à ses petits-enfants lorsque le père des enfants n’est pas autochtone, alors que ce droit est reconnu pour les pères autochtones dans la même situation. C’est grâce à plus de 25 ans de démarches légales que les choses vont changer.
Toutefois, les femmes continuent de subir la discrimination de la Loi sur les Indiens dans les domaines tels que:
Le droit au statut indien pour elles-mêmes et leurs enfants (abolition des catégories);
Le droit à l’appartenance à la bande pour elles-mêmes et leurs enfants;
L’inscription d’enfants dont la paternité est contestée ou non reconnue;
Le droit à résider dans la réserve pour elles-mêmes, leur conjoint et leurs enfants;
La clause de distribution de terrains et de services dans la réserve;
Le partage des biens suite à la rupture de la relation,
Le refus d’ajouter des nouveaux argents pour les nouvelles inscriptions,
Le droit exclusif d’Ottawa de déterminer qui est indien.
Dans l’histoire, la discrimination fondée sur le sexe à l’égard des femmes des Premières Nations devient officielle dès 1868, des mesures législatives décrétant alors que le statut d’Indien ne pouvait être transmis que par les hommes. Un homme qui mariait une nonautochtone conservait son statut d’indien conféré par la Loi sur les Indiens, sa femme et leurs enfants devenaient indiens au sens de la Loi. Une femme des PN qui mariait un non-autochtone ou un Indien non-inscrit perdait ses droits ancestraux et issus de traités, tout comme ses enfants! Dans le jargon de la Loi sur les Indiens, elle perdait son statut.
C’est pour continuer la lutte entreprise par Mme McIvor et demander au gouvernement canadien de régler ces injustices dans la Loi sur les Indiens que la Marche Amun aura lieu.
Monday, 31 May 2010
5:00-6:30pm
Human Rights Monument
Corner of Elgin and Lisgar
Ottawa, ON
In support of the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network – Protest Netanyahu’s visit to Ottawa
WAR CRIMINALS UNWELCOME HERE
At the end of May, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu will be coming to Canada, including visits to Ottawa and Toronto. The Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network is organizing a protest of Netanyahu’s visit on Monday, May 31, starting at 5pm, at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa. We need you to join us and to bring all your friends.
The occupation. The wall. The siege. The Settlements. The impunity. The Israeli occupation is becoming increasingly brutal with the unflinching support of the Canadian government. For all these reasons and more, it’s crucial for all Canadians who believe in justice and peace and justice to take a stand.
The illegal siege of Gaza continues to suffocate the Palestinians who live there, preventing them from rebuilding from Israel’s attack on last year that killed 1400 people (half of them children). The recent legislation giving the Israeli military discretion to deport Palestinians from the West Bank is an affront to human rights and democracy.
The OPSN is calling on groups from coast to coast to organize local solidarity demonstrations on or near May 31, to protest Netanyahu’s upcoming attempt to re-brand Israel in Canada, and the complicity of the Canadian government in Israel’s violations of international law.
Let us join together in solidarity to oppose occupation and take a stand for justice, peace and human rights!
Update: Watch the video on DFN Grand Chief Samuel Gargan‘s Talk after the screening of the film “FIGHTING FOR OUR LAND”on May 17, 2010
Deh Cho “Fighting for our Land”
Join us for an evening of conversation and solidarity with leaders of the Deh Cho First Nation. The Deh Cho, KAIROS, the IPSM Ottawa and the Polaris Institute are hosting a screening of the film “Dehcho Ndene Gha Nadaotsethe: Fighting for our Land”, a community based video by Rebecca Garrett and Dehcho First Nations, on Monday May 17th at 6pm in Ottawa.
“FIGHTING FOR OUR LAND”
FILM SCREENING and DISCUSSION
May 17th, 2010
6 – 9 pm
PSAC Building, 233 Gilmour (at Metcalfe), Ottawa
With: DFN Grand Chief Samuel Gargan
DFN Elder Pat Martel
Members of DFN Negotations Team
and Filmmaker Rebecca Garrett
The Decho First Nations have been involved in formal negotiations with the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories for over thirty years.
We, the Dehcho Dene have been struggling since 1969 for rightful recognition of our rights in a just and fair manner. When an Agreement with the territorial and federal governments is reached, we will have the governing authority and the resources to protect our lands and ensure that we can continue to live according to Dene values and principles in all aspects of our lives.
“Dehcho Ndehe Gha Nadaotsethe: Fighting for our Land,” is a project of the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) Communiciations team. It brings together in one film key moments of Dehcho history, and explains our struggle to retain control of our homeland.
This film is an invaluable educational and mobilization tool to inform and involve all members of our communities in the process of reaching an agreement that allows future generations to continue to live in a way that honours and respects the land of our ancestors.
Presented by:
KAIROS
Amnesty International
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO)
Polaris Institute
and Dehcho First Nations
Special thanks to Tito Medina for bringing music to this talk (click here to see Tito’s performance) and Ramsey Hart for translating our speakers’ presentations from Spanish to English. Also joining us in this talk were Francois Guindon from NISGUA and Feliciano Orellana, a former employee of Goldcorp subsidiary Entre Mares working in the Cerro Blanco Mine, Goldcorp’s second large mine in Guatemala.
Carlos Amador:
Another world is possible only if we work together
Borders are dividing us … Conscious men and women shouldn’t let borders divide us …
Borders are for Capitalism
Highlights:
Canadian government is pressuring the new Honduran government following the coup to open its arms more widely to the investments of Canadian mining companies
The current prime minister of Canada is a big friend of the mining companies
With the opening of new investments in mining, we are facing a new form of colonization
90 mining concessions in 80 counties (in Honduras) are owned by Canadian mining companies
Canadian Pension Plan has $500 million dollars invested in Goldcorp Inc.
Our problems are your problems … we have the moral and ethical obligations to fight for the dignity of people, therefore we should unite ourselves
Public funds from Canada are going towards companies that are damaging human rights, are violating the fundamental right, that is right to life, for instance, in Guatemala
Near Marlin mine in Guatemala 120 homes have been damaged because of the effects of explosion used to blast the rocks out of the pit, 80 streams have dried out, the river below the mine is contaminated …
When a mining company arrives, it often creates conflict, divides communities, tears apart the social fabrics that tie people together
Over 1 million people in 42 different communities across the country (Guatemala) don’t want mining in their territories
In the area of Marlin mine (Guatemala), 24 communities have sent a clear message that they don’t want the activities of Goldcorp to continue
The ILO (International Labour Organization) said all mining operations in Guatemala should be suspended because the mining companies have violated the right to free, prior, informed consent of Indigenous communities.
What to do:
Write to Canadian Pension Plan, one of Goldcorp’s investors, to stop investing in Goldcrop and REALLY exercise socially responsible investing:
Canada Pension Plan
John H Butler, 416 868-1171, One Queen St. East, Suite 2600, Toronto ON, M5C-2W5 — $349,000,000 of shares in Goldcorp as of March 2010
CANADA PENSION PLAN Investment Board: csr@cppib.ca, 416-868-4075, Toll Free: 1-866-557-9510;
Manuel Pedrosa, Communications and Stakeholder Relations, 416-868-4682, mpedrosa@cppib.ca
Photos & Videos:
Video – Javier de Leon – Resistance to Harmful Gold Mining in Guatemala
JAVIER de LEON is a Mayan Mam community leader from the village of Maquivil, municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, department of San Marcos. From his small home, he looks across at Goldcorp’s ever expanding open-pit, cyanide-leaching gold mine – the “Marlin” mine. Since 2004, Javier has been educating and organizing Mayan Mam communities and working to resist and demand justice for the health and environmental harms and human rights violations caused by Goldcorp’s mine.
Video – Carlos Amador – Community Resistance to Harmful Gold Mining in Honduras
CARLOS AMADOR is a teacher and community leader in El Porvenir, 15 kilometres from Goldcorp’s open-pit, cyanide-leaching gold mine – the “San Martin” mine. Since 2000, Carlos has been educating and organizing local communities in the Siria Valley, and working to resist and demand justice for the health and environmental harms and human rights violations caused by Goldcorp’s mine.
Video – Feliciano Orellana (only the first half of Feliciano’s talk was filmed … my camera stopped working after the first half.)
Feliciano Orellana is a representative of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Franciscan Family, in the Department of Jutiapa in eastern Guatemala. Employed by Goldcorp subsidiary Entre Mares in 1997 as one of the first employee, he later got hired in 2008 and suffered an almost Fatal accident on the job, for which he received no compensation. Now Feliciano is an active leader in his community and wants to share his experience on Goldcorp Human Rights Violations and the communities’ opposition to the Cerro Blanco Mine, Goldcorp’ second large mine in Guatemala.
————————————————- Movie Screening and Speakers
An educational and fund-raising event
Speakers will include: John Boots – Akwesasne People’s Fire Nona Benedict – Akwesasne People’s Fire
NFB Movie, “You Are On Indian Land”
The movie will have subtitles.
————————————————-
========================= Wednesday, May 19 at 7pm
Exile Infoshop, 256 Bank St.2nd floor
Contact us if you have mobility issues and want to attend http://www.ipsmo.org ipsmo@riseup.net
=========================
Both John Boots and Nona Benedict are part of the Akwesasne People’s Fire, a group that formed in response to the attempt by CBSA to arm border guards on the territory of the Akwesasne Mohawks.
They were although both involved in the 1969 Blockade that is covered in the movie “You Are On Indian Land,” and thy will also be talking about this protest and of the long history of the Akwesasne Mohawks struggle for sovereignty with Canada and the United States.
We will be showing the National Film Board movie, “You Are On Indian Land” which is “A film report of the 1969 protest demonstration by Mohawk Indians of the St. Regis Reserve on the international bridge between Canada and the United States near Cornwall, Ontario. By blocking the bridge, which is on the Reserve, and causing a considerable tie-up of motor traffic, the Indians drew public attention to their grievance that they were prohibited by Canadian authorities from duty-free passage of personal purchases across the border; a right they claim was established by the Jay Treaty of 1794. The film shows the confrontation with police, and ensuing action.”
===============================
Saturday, May 1st at 3pm
Jack Purcell Community Centre
320 Jack Purcell Lane (off Elgin, near Gilmour)
ipsmo@riseup.net http://www.ipsmo.org
Part of the Organizing for Justice Mayday Weekend http://www.OrganizingForJustice.ca
===============================
The goal of the workshop is to …educate non-indigenous people about the importance of indigenous solidarity and to teach people and learn from them about what solidarity means and how to do it.
The IPSM Ottawa is a predominantly settler organization that works toward building a movement of non-indigenous people actively supporting indigenous people struggling for justice and decolonization.
Our workshop “Indigenous Solidarity for Settlers” consists of three parts:
1) Looking at colonization from an anti-oppressive framework.
We look at how colonization has historically and continues to be imposed through individual behaviour and institutional and cultural oppression.
2) What does solidarity mean?
We focus on what solidarity is and how to “do it”. The word solidarity is used a lot, especially in radical organizing, but it is not always easy to define or to do. Put simply we believe that it is essential in solidarity work to “listen, take direction and stick around”.
3) Case study
Using an example from the organizing that the IPSM has done, such as organizing in support of the Barriere Lake Algonquin, we will explore what solidarity work looks like in practice. Using concrete examples from our own experiences we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this organizing in order to examine how to do solidarity work well.
Sunday, April 25 at 2pm
Exile Infoshop 256 Bank St. (2nd Floor)
Everyone Welcome!
Contact us if you have mobility issues and want to attend ipsmo@riseup.net http://www.ipsmo.org
The Decolonial Study Group is a project of the IPSM Ottawa. We will be deepening and broadening our understanding and analysis of indigenous struggles for decolonization, social justice and revolution. We will be doing this through readings, workshops, oral presentations, movies and so on.
The reading for the study group on Sunday, April 25 will focus on the Indian Act. The Indian Act is the fundamental piece of legislation through which the Canadian state seeks to control Indigenous People in Canada.
For this study group there will be core articles which we ask everyone to read, as well as additional articles and information for people who have the time and the interest to get deeper into the subject matter.
Core Readings:
Gender, Race, and the Regulation of Native Identity in Canada and the United States: An Overview by Bonita Lawrence
The essay is pretty long, so feel free to stop at “American Discourses of Indianess.” Of course, you`re encouraged to read the whole essay.
The IPSM is now having “New Member’s Meetings” in order to make it easier for new people to get involved in the group.
New Member’s Meetings are an opportunity for people to learn about what indigenous solidarity organizing is and how to do it. We will also provide a brief introduction to the campaigns and support work that we do. Finally, we will address how IPSMO works as a collective.
Currently we have 4 organizing priorities, which include support for the Ardoch Algonquin and Barriere Lake Algonquin, Native Women’s Struggles and Two-Spirited People’s Struggles.
In the 2010 budget, the federal government announced it was discontinuing funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. 134 programs across the country are affected as of Wed March 31
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa 