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APRIL 3rd, 2008 |
IN THIS ISSUE: |
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1)
THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE SHARBOT LAKE INQUIRY
Garth Gullekson: For photographing the event. His photos of this and other uranium events can be found on the CCAMU website. Danka Brewer of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations: For doing the opening prayer ceremony for the inquiry. Lissa Rissanen and Sheila MacDonald: For acting as our film crew and documenting many of the presentations. Cheryl Nash and Dawn King: For providing homemade baked goods. Carol Pepper: For chairing/hosting the Sharbot Lake session and taking care of all the details that come with this role. St. Andrew's
Anglican Church: For donating the hall and then quickly responding to
our need for more space by opening up the church. Liz Scott went out of
her way to come and help make a smooth transition to the new location
and stayed on to help with the facilities and the cleanup. The Christian Peacemaker Teams: For providing dinner for our panelists and organizers. All of the members of CCAMU would also like to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of Donna Dillman, Marilyn Crawford and Wolfe Erlichman who have spent hundreds of hours organizing the Citizens' Inquiry. Donna also facilitated the inquiry to be sure that everyone remained on schedule. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make a presentation. Your participation is key to making the Citizens' Uranium Inquiry a success! 2) KINGSTON CITIZENS' INQUIRY INTO THE IMPACTS OF THE URANIUM CYCLE The next session will be held in Kingston on April 8th. Please come out to see what your community has to say about uranium. You do not need to register to come and watch. Time: 1:00-5:00pm
and 6:00pm-9:00pm 3) ABORIGINAL FILM AND DISCUSSION NIGHT The Film night in McDonald's Corners taking place on April 4th has been moved to Kingston. Please join us for the next film in the Aboriginal Film and Discussion Night series: Friday April 11, 2008, 7pm Film: "Is the Crown at war with US?" School of
Policy Studies With special guest: Justine Masika Bihamba from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Justine is a human rights activist for women and children in Africa who are being impacted by mining and other resource development. The film and discussion series is open to all and is free of charge. Please bring an appetizer to share. For more information on the film and discussion series, please contact Paula Sherman by e-mail: paulasherman@trentu.ca or phone: 1-613-329-3706 4) PERTH'S FAMILY WALK AGAINST URANIUM MINING The last walk drew the largest crowd yet! People of all ages came out to peacefully demonstrate their concern about uranium mining. Information
about the next walk. 5) LETTER TO TERRY TUFTS AND KATHRYN BRIGGS FROM ROBERT LOVELACE Dear Terry & Kathryn, Thank you for your recent letter. Every letter I receive lifts my spirits. I am also lifted up knowing that so many people continue to work for the liberation of the land. This is one of those times where great social change is in the wind. Our vanity is challenged and we are faced with finding a new way to get along and get by. I have worked at this for a long time. Like playing Monopoly. Almost everyone plays this game. When you play it the way that most people play it then you follow the rules. During the game you cultivate self-interest and even thought the rules say you "may buy" you do it because you don't want someone else to get the advantage. Monopoly is about the way people feel. The consequence of loosing the game is usually an hour or so of depression, maybe unresolved anger, and then surrender and isolation. Even the winner doesn't get a real sense of victory, as the winner is also isolated at the end of the game. You may know this. Monopoly was invented by a group of socialists in Atlantic City, (I think in the 1930's) as a way to demonstrate the evils of capitalism. There is another way to play the Monopoly board. If everyone agrees to now buy the property, they can use it without penalty. As everyone completes a circle around the $200 for passing Go represents their annual harvest. When two or more people land on the same space they celebrate by singing and dancing together and when someone lands on free parking everyone has a feast of popcorn and iced tea. Pretty soon everyone is having such a good time that they don't even use the money, because it's a waste of time; and everyone looks forward to landing on the same "property" with someone else. Instead of capitalists and politicians negotiating deals being the leaders it is the musicians and storytellers who are most respected. I am sure the artist and gardeners, and architects and weavers will want to share their talents as well. Lets always remember that clean water is natural, clean air is natural, one seed of corn can produce 300 just by putting it in the right soil and nurturing it. Please keep up the fight. I know that you will, it sounds like your little daughter is pointing the way. Migwetch, Bob Lovelace Editor's note: Letters of support for Robert Lovelace can be mailed to: Central East Correctional Centre, 541 Hwy 36, Lindsay, Ontario K9V 4S6 At this point he has not been able to receive any of the books that supporters have been sending him. Letters are getting through and they really do brighten his day. 6) OPIRG FACULTY ACTIVISM AWARDED TO BOB LOVELACE The fourth annual Faculty Activism Award has been presented to Bob Lovelace. Thank you Bob for your contributions to our community! Professor Lovelace received 8 nominations from members of the Queen's and surrounding communities. Bob's daughter, Lyann Smith accepted the award on his behalf at OPIRG's Annual General Meeting held March 25th, 2008. The criteria
for award are as follows: - Positive impact on Queen's University - This person has a real and lasting positive impact on this institution through the development of courses and curricula, research, faculty involvement, campus program development, and/or an innovative approach to teaching that inspires students to follow her/his example. - Bridging the academic world and the community - This person has shown a commitment to ensure that her/his research reaches a wider audience among the general public outside of academe. By extending her/his knowledge and skills, (s)he has enhanced the lives of others in our society. - Significant contribution to community activism - This person is involved with community-based organizations that work towards positive change in the areas listed above. Support for Bob Lovelace: "Professor Lovelace has long educated students and been well-known to be one of the kindest professors at the university. Recently he has been active in his community to the extent that he has stood up for the rights of Aboriginal land against uranium mining despite being put in prison and given a large fine. Of course, he did nothing more than protest peacefully. " "There's a saying, 'Walk your Talk.' Professor Lovelace is a man who does just that. While he teaches respect for others, he speaks in a way that is respectful. While he teaches wise use of land and resources, he lives in that way, using vast stores of skill in horticulture, building, and land use as well as history and academic topics. While he teaches the law can and must be relied upon to in the end protect the People, he goes out and seeks to stand upon that law. While he teaches Aboriginal, intercultural and Global understanding, he each day practices that understanding in both his personal life and his actions within the community." For more information about this award please contact info@opirgkingston.org http://opirgkingston.org/2008/03/opirg-faculty-activism-awarded-to-bob-lovelace/ Women begin `wave fast' to protest jailing of natives in mining fight The Canadian Press OTTAWA- A group of native women in northern Ontario plan to stop eating for 24 hours tonight in what they hope will be the first in a series of anti-mining ``wave fasts.'' Eight members of the Nishnawbe (nish-NAW-bee) Aski (askee) Nation women's council will fast in Thunder Bay to support a great grandmother jailed in a mining dispute. They hope other human rights, environmental and women's groups will pick up the fast every 24 hours across the country. It's to support Cecilia Begg, who was jailed along with five other members of the Big Trout Lake First Nation. They were handed six-month sentences for fighting exploratory drilling that they say started without proper consultation. The case has sent shock waves throughout northern First Nations as the Ontario government tries to mediate. Recent court judgments say First Nations must be consulted on land use and benefits before drilling begins. 8) CCAMU NETWORKING WITH VERMONT'S ANTI-NUCLEAR GROUP The following is an excerpt of a letter from the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance. "As I mentioned, we are working to close Vermont's only nuclear power plant, which has applied for an unimaginably foolish 20 year extension to their operating license. Fortunately there is a ground-swell of opposition to this notion, and the Vermont Legislature has agreed to review the application instead of leaving it simply in the hands of the very pro-nuclear Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We are hoping to help inform this discussion by organizing a tour of speakers who can testify to the dangers of the nuclear fuel cycle from beginning to end, with a special mention of the link to the destruction of native people's lands and health. We are looking tentatively at a tour somewhere between the 5th and 12th of May, which would include testifying before a legislative committee, speaking to community forums, a press conference, media interviews etc. We are in touch with people from the Yucca Mountain area to speak to waste issues, and are looking for possible contacts to speak to the issues surrounding mining and milling. The Vermont facility talks about their power as being "Clean and Green" and we'd like to do what we can to debunk this kind of nonsense. Our web-site is at http://www.vyda.org/ We are working with a couple other groups on this including the Citizen's Action Network and their web-site is at http://www.nukebusters.org/ Many Thanks,
9) ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY SUPPORTS ABORIGNIAL LEADERS Hon. Michael
Bryant, March 30, 2008 OCAP Statement in Support of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations: Stop the
Criminalization of Indigenous Resistance: The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty stands in full support of and in solidarity with the jailed indigenous leaders who have been imprisoned for fighting to protect their lands, and we call for the immediate reversal of the politically motivated sentences recently imposed on the six members of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation, as well as Bob Lovelace, co-chief of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation. OCAP decries the unacceptable fact that, over the past month, the colonial courts of this province have convicted and imprisoned seven First Nations people for trying to protect their lands. In mid-March, six members of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation were sentenced to six months in jail, for refusing to comply with an injunction allowing Platinex, an exploration company, to start drilling on traditional indigenous territory. In 1929, KI First Nation leaders signed Treaty 9, to protect their ability to hunt, fish and trap, and to prevent the encroachment of early miners and loggers. In the winter of 2005-06, Platinex, a mining-exploration company, tried to drill on land for which it had staked a claim pursuant to Ontario's mining laws but which is also subject to Treaty 9. KI First Nation members prevented the drilling from proceeding. The company sued for damages and sought an injunction to prevent further protests. The end result of KIFN asserting their treaty rights is that their leadership has been jailed and a $10 billion lawsuit has been laid against the community. Similarly, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation Co-Chief Robert Lovelace has now served over a month of his 6-month prison sentence for his role in AAFN's efforts to resist claims staked by Frontenac Ventures Corporation to mine uranium on unceded traditional territories of the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations. Neither the company nor the governments consulted with the Algonquins, despite the fact that the staked land is part of a Comprehensive Land Claim that is under ongoing negotiation with Ontario and Canada. Bob Lovelace was also fined $25,000. In addition, the community was fined $10,000 and Chief Paula Sherman $15,000. Leaders of the neighbouring Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and non-Aboriginal supporters of the AAFN have also been in court and a $77 million dollar lawsuit has been laid against their community. In January 2009, Shawn Brant, spokesperson from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, faces a lengthy jury trial for charges stemming from blockades which took place in 2007, actions taken up to reclaim a quarry operation and part of the struggle for the return of the Culbertson Tract, land which the federal government has acknowledged belongs to the Mohawks. He faces a potential 12 years in prison. These charges are also accompanied by a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by the corporate interests of CN Rail. OCAP condemns the fact that politicians at both the provincial and federal level, as well as judges, prosecutors, and police, have been sending a vicious and clear message that criminalization of indigenous resistance is the order of the day. Even the basic 'duty to consult' imposed on government before they authorize actions that might infringe on indigenous constitutional rights, enshrined in Section 35 of the Canadian constitution and Supreme Court of Canada rulings since 1990, is being ignored. Given the poverty and lack of basic access to decent housing, clean water, education, and health care endemic to reserve communities in this province and country, we find the laying of massive financial punishment against indigenous people who are fighting back to be abhorrent and completely outrageous. Finally, we denounce the trend of responding to blockades and actions taken up by indigenous communities who are protecting their traditional territories with criminalization and repression. In light of the ineffective land claim process, the lack of will on the part of provincial or federal governments to resolve claims issues, the ability of corporations to act under the auspices of Ontario's outdated Mining Act, provisions of which directly violate repeated findings of the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to First Nations treaty-rights and land-claims, and given the right of First Nations communities to sovereignty anD self-determination, the racist colonialist response of government is unacceptable and must not be allowed to continue. OCAP calls on the Ontario government to drop all charges and fines against Bob Lovelace and the AAFN, and to drop all charges against the KI Six. We demand that the Ontario government respond to the clearly stated demands of both communities. We demand that all corporate plunder, mining and exploration activities on the traditional territories of AAFN and KI cease immediately. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty 10) LINK AND ARTICLE FORWARDED BY DR. JIM HARDING Feb 28, 2008 Article: No "Green" Glow Nuclear
power far from friendly, say critics The crux of almost any current argument in favour of a nuclear revival rests on the notion that, because of its limited greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power is an environmentally friendly energy source. Essentially, those in favour of an expanded role for nuclear power in Canada and across the world argue that atomic energy is a crucial component in the fight against global warming. The pro-nuclear side of the debate has also garnered a few allies with - at least on the surface - some impressive environmental street cred. Former Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, for example, has embraced nuclear as a green alternative in combating carbon emissions and climate change, critiquing anti-nuclear activists as being sensationalistic. To read the rest of this article go to, http://www.planetsmag.com/content.php?vn=6&is=14&an=646&sc=2 11) WATERLOO AND KITCHENER URANIUM EVENT: TALKS BY JIM HARDING The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG) presents two talks given by Dr. Jim Harding author of "Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System" Date: Friday,
April 4th Admission: Free Second event will be held in Kitchener Date: Friday,
April 4th Waterloo Public Interest Research Group website http://www.wpirg.org 12) REPORT FROM JIM HARDING PORT HOPE EVENT March 29, 2008 Today the
Port Hope Health Concerns Committee (http://www.porthopehealthconcerns.com/)
held a public event with Dr. Jim Harding, author of "Canada's Deadly
Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System" . Leigh Thomson 1) On August 18, 2007, representatives of energy workers unions, social justice networks and civil society organizations from Mexico, Canada and the United States, met in Montreal to discuss alternatives to the energy provisions in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. At the Ottawa Public Forum on the SPP, on Sunday Aug. 19, 2007, the following three representatives of Energy Workers' Unions participated, and shared the full declaration from the Montreal meeting, to great applause from the audience. Dave Coles, President, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), Gary Beavers, United Steelworkers Union Gaétan Ménard, Secretary-Treasurer, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) For democratic, national development of North America's energy resources Montreal, August 18, 2007 A joint solidarity statement of Energy Workers Unions, Networks, and Social Movements. [Exerpt] "Energy workers understand the historic transformations which are necessary to achieve global energy sustainability. The petroleum, gas, coal and other carbon based industries will be impacted by measures to address global climate change and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Large scale hydroelectricity and nuclear power are also faced with many formidable environmental challenges. Energy workers understand the necessity for conservation and energy efficiency, and new renewable energy industries, as well as for new policies in each country which may impact our employment security. We are ready to be part of the solution on the basis of Just Transition that ensures that workers and communities do not unfairly shoulder the burden of social and environmental change." p.5, http://www.canadians.org/energy/documents/SPP_statement_07.pdf Signatories include the United Steelworkers, The Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, The International Federation of Chemical Energy Mines and General Workers'Unions, CUPE, and other Unions and Social Networks from Canada, Quebec, the US, and Mexico, listed on the linked document. 2) Let wind
blow for public good, not profit: electricity coalition Ontario 's plan for offshore wind power generation has one major flaw, says the Ontario Electricity Coalition. Under current legislation, the wind that blows for free will be churned into private profit instead of at-cost electricity for the general public. "Under the McGuinty government's Electricity Restructuring Act, enacted in 2004, our publicly owned and controlled power generator - Ontario Power Generation (OPG) - was barred from bidding on the development of new, green power generation," said coalition spokesperson Paul Kahnert. "The province is denying its citizens the right to benefit from what nature provides us." The many advantages of public power generation include the ability of public institutions to borrow money for new development at lower cost than the private sector. Higher borrowing costs combined with the need to make a profit mean higher electricity costs for consumers, both residential or business. In addition, Kahnert said, public power generation can provide consumers with at-cost electricity or reinvest profits in effective conservation programs. "Profit-making is the antithesis of conservation," he said. "If the province intends to move more quickly toward increased wind power, it must allow OPG to participate in the development of new generation projects on behalf of the people of Ontario for the benefit of the people of Ontario ." SOURCE: Ontario Electricity Coalition www.electricitycoalition.org IBEW International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers CEP Communication Energy & Paper Workers OPSEU Ontario Public Service Employees' Union [and many other unions and community groups, as listed on the OEC site.] 13) UNEWS READER DRAWS PARALLELS BETWEEN ALGONQUIN FIGHT AND AWAS TINGNI "As I was researching a project I stumbled across the case of the indigenous group the Awas Tingni vs. Nicaragua which has shocking parallels with the case on Algonquin land. They are an indigenous community with an untitled land claim (since 1950) and the Nicaraguan Government allowed a Korean logging company to exploit timber on their land. This community took the case to the Nicarguan courts, then the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and then before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and won. Their land was titled and they were fully compensated. Unfortunately the inter-American Courts only include South and Central America not Canada. "The Court ordered Nicaragua to demarcate and title Awas Tingni's traditional lands in accordance with its customary land and resource tenure patterns, to refrain from any action that might undermine the Community's interests in those lands, and to establish an adequate mechanism to secure the land rights of all indigenous communities of the country" I attached a pdf with more information. Cheers, (Editors note: for a copy of this pdf, email greenlynndaniluk@yahoo.ca) 14) ARTICLE: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS A strong sense of heritage and belonging compels Robert Lovelace to stand up for his beliefs The Kingston Whig-Standard March 30, 2008 Reprinted
with permission by Frank Armstrong It was one of those moments that would forever change the course of Bob Lovelace's life. Lovelace was 14 years old and traveling in the back of a car, on the way with family friends to see a new bullfight arena on the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico. The car was passing through the city's suburban clapboard slums when the gangly teen spotted seven children struggling with the body of what looked like their mother at the side of the road. They were carrying her toward a cemetery at the top of a nearby hill, where they would bury her on top of the hard earth beneath a pile of rocks they would have to gather themselves. The rest of the day is a blank, except for the stark memory of feeling that nobody should have to live in the kind of world he had just witnessed. "I know those poor people were Indians and they were there because their economy and their land had been destroyed," Lovelace said. Among the pivotal moments in his life, Lovelace says this was the one that taught him how fortunate he was compared to many others. It was perhaps also the one that, 46 years later, would ultimately land him in jail. Last month, Lovelace, a Queen's University professor and retired chief of the Ardoch Algonquins, was sentenced to six months behind bars for refusing to allow uranium prospectors onto land claimed by the First Nation near Sharbot Lake. A judge found him to be in contempt of an earlier court order to do so. Lovelace refuses to back down. "It would have meant voluntarily compromising my liberty to speak freely and to defend the land ... Algonquin land," Lovelace said in an interview at the Central East Correctional Centre, where he'll reside until Aug. 15 or until he decides to obey the court order. People who know Lovelace well, like his stepdaughters, Lyann Smith and Lesley Merrigan, don't expect him to get out anytime soon. "His options were to shut up or go to jail," said Merrigan. "One thing about Bob is he has enough conviction that if he decided ... he's going to take a stand, he's not going to stand down." Born in 1948 in St. Louis, Mo., into a working class family, Lovelace's mother, Janet Postell, was a file clerk who was half Cherokee Indian. His stepdad, a Caucasian, was an industrial engineer who specialized in installing nuclear missiles in the silos that were put in position during the Cold War. Bill Postell was also an alcoholic who wasn't happy with the way his life had turned out and took out his frustration on his family. Lovelace didn't come to know his biological stepfather, Mel Lovelace, until late in life. The oldest of two boys, Bob Lovelace remembers being an angry young child. "When I was in Grade 5, I spent most of the year in the principal's office," he said, cracking a smile. "I was never sure if the teacher didn't like me or if I was a bad kid." An attentive Grade 6 teacher turned Lovelace around, so much so that he would have skipped Grade 7, if his family hadn't moved to another school district. The peaceful atom is safe compared to Hiroshima The Financial Post Saturday, March 29, 2008 By: Lawrence Solomon To most of us, the consequences of a meltdown or some other catastrophic accident at a nuclear reactor are unimaginable. To the companies in the worldwide nuclear industry, and to insurance companies, the consequences are all too imaginable -- they would be wiped out if held responsible for a malfunction that caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Because reactors were not a commercial proposition, decades ago, the corporate world refused to back nuclear power. If this was the end of the story, commercial nuclear reactors would not be built and no one -- not shareholders, not members of the public -- would be threatened by runaway reactors. This was not the end of the story. Neither was it the beginning. To read
the rest of this article go to, 16) ARTICLE: CONSERVATIONIST URGES MINING TO PROMOTE UNDERSTANDING Canadian Mining Journal March 30, 2008 The following appeared in a recent issue of the ONTARIO MINING ASSOCIATION's (OMA) newsletter (www.OMA.on.ca): At the Ontario Mining Association's Meet the Miners event [earlier in March at Queen's Park in Toronto], guest speaker and leading environmentalist Monte Hummel encouraged the mining industry to build its fan base. Mr. Hummel, president emeritus of the WORLD WILDLIFE FUND CANADA, co-founder of POLLUTION PROBE and author, while sporting a prominent green "Keep Mining in Canada" button, reminded the audience that we do need to keep mining in Canada and that the industry needs to build a broader base of understanding and support. "I am all for a profitable, responsible mining industry in Canada," he said. "The question should not be should mining exist - the question should be under what terms and conditions should the industry operate." Mr. Hummel provided a number of examples of successes, which have been achieved when the mining sector and responsible environmental organizations co-operate. To read the rest of this article go to, |