Stop the Sludge/Support Six Nations Land Defenders–> Hamilton Event

STOP THE SLUDGE! SUPPORT SIX NATIONS LAND DEFENDERS! Speaking Tour

Friday June 29th
7-9 @ Corktown HARRP (187 James St. South)

Join us to learn about struggles to stop the sludge plant at the Headwaters of the Grand River and how to support Six Nations activists who are being criminalized for defending their land.  Speakers from Six Nations and Dundalk share their experiences, followed by an opportunity for discussion.

STOP THE SLUDGE! How would you like to eat food that was fertilized with hazardous human waste? What if that same waste leaks into our local rivers? In the lead-up to a July 7th walk in Dundalk, Ontario, to show the growing and united opposition being mobilised against these dangerous developments at the headwaters of the Grand and Saugeen rivers, we will be joined by James Cooke of citizen groups Stop the Waste Park (http://www.stopthewastepark.com/) and the Southgate Public Interest Research Group (http://opirg.org/southgate/home.html).  During this public info night we will learn about the unfolding events and struggles against a dangerous project to build a new waste processing (‘sludge’) plant at the headwaters of the Grand River, as well as resistance to this project from those at the frontline of this environmental struggle. The story on the sludge plant: In February 2012, residents of Southgate township and the town of Dundalk, Ontario drove their vehicles onto the access road leading to a construction site. The so-called “eco-park”, located near a school at the edge of town, was to be developed into a sludge-to-fertilizer processing plant. This land protection action, 145km northwest of Hamilton, Ontario at the head waters of the Grand River (O:se Kenhionhata:tie), has stopped construction of the plant which would have processed the human sewage, industrial and medical waste that would be shipped in from Toronto. The out-sludge would then be sprayed on fields as fertilizer for our food. With the support of Haudenosaunee land defenders, and a mobilized and highly knowledgeable local community, the blockade’s energy and strength continues to grow and there is grounds for optimism about the impending court date in July which would see the zoning rules disallow further development. Check out the AW@L Radio interview with Ruby Montour (Haundenosaunee elder, land defender and Grandmother) and Dundalk resident James Cook (Southgate Public Interest Research Group), who have been blockading further development of the site, in a bold and brave land protection effort: http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/awl/2012/05/stop-waste-park For more information on the proposed sludge plant, and to hear plans of ongoing and upcoming actions on this water issue, visit: – http://stopthewastepark.com/ – https://www.facebook.com/pages/STOP-the-Bio-Solids-Plant-from-Being-In-a-Town-or-near-Housing/282799498412223 SUPPORT SIX NATIONS LAND DEFENDERS! On June 25, the April 28 Coalition kicked off a speaking tour in Toronto with the  launch of a new Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund to support front line Haudenosaunee land defenders who have been criminalized and targeted by the state. Francine “Flower” Doxtator is a Haudenosaunee Land Defender, grandmother and a member of the April 28 Coalition from Six Nations. She will be in court on June 26 in Cayuga to continue dealing with charges stemming from a February 18 incident at Kanonhstaton, the Six Nations reclamation site near Caledonia, where she and others confronted racist agitator Gary McHale’s planned incursion onto the site known as “the Protected Place.” She was later recharged for allegedly breaching unjust bail conditions when she attended the April 28 walk for “Peace, Respect and Friendship,” where people from Six Nations marched with allies under the banner, “We Are All Treaty People.” For more information on Flower’s case see: april28coalition.wordpress.com. At Six Nations, the last six years have seen harsh criminalization of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders. Dozens of people have faced criminal charges and several have served substantial time in jail. In Brantford an injunction was passed making it illegal for anyone from Six Nations to be involved in land claims protest within the city; in Flower’s case we see further criminalization of land defenders with bail conditions that attempt to keep her away from already reclaimed land. We are reminded of our collective strength and the potential for support within activist communities when over the last two years unprecedented levels of support has been generated for the G20 defendants and some of those convicted and that currently there are massive outpourings of solidarity and support to the legal defense funds of Quebec student associations. It is important to remember that the same level of financial and physical support has not arisen for Indigenous Land Defenders and other front line struggles. This needs to change. We must continue to build support for Six Nations land defenders and other everyday struggles against colonization. We must also remember that all of us living on the land are treaty people, and we as treaty people must work to overcome these outrageous and heart breaking violations of treaty and human rights by building support for our friends and allies at Six Nations.

This event has been organized by Hamilton members of the April 28th coalition.

If you have questions about other work the April 28 Coalition is doing, please contact: april28info@gmail.com

June 25 + 26: Solidarity with Six Nations Land Defenders

The April 28 Coalition would like to invite you to a speaking event to launch the new Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund, followed by a day of court support for Francine “Flower’ Doxtator and Alex Hundert.

On June 25, the April 28 Coalition will be launching a new Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund to support front line Haudenosaunee land defenders who have been criminalized and targeted by the state. We will be hosting a speaking event that evening to which you are invited.

On June 26, Francine “Flower” Doxtator and Alex Hundert will both be in court, in Cayuga and Toronto respectively. The April 28 Coalition would like to invite you to attend both court hearings, and for a bus ride to and from Cayuga for Flower’s afternoon hearing

Launch Event for Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund, Speaking event with Francine “Flower” Doxtator, Alex Hundert, more speakers TBA

• 6pm,  June 25 – San Lorenzo Latin American Community Centre, 22 Wenderly Drive, Toronto

Court support for Alex Hundert, G20 Main Conspiracy Group, sentencing hearing: Alex is expecting to start a 13.5 month jail sentence.

• 10am, June 26 – Metro West Etobicoke Courthouse, 2201 Finch W

Get on the bus to Cayuga: Support Flower and Six Nations Land Defenders

• 12:30pm – 2201 Finch W, Toronto
• UPDATE: bus sign up

Court support for Francine “Flower” Doxtator, Six Nations Land Defender, grandmother, and a member of the April 28 Coalition.

• 2pm – Cayuga Courthouse, 55 Munsee St N, Cayuga

• Facebook Event: LINK

Francine “Flower” Doxtator is a Haudenosaunee Land Defender, grandmother and a member of the April 28 Coalition from Six Nations. She is in court on June 26 in Cayuga to continue dealing with charges stemming from a February 18 incident at Kanonhstaton, the Six Nations reclamation site near Caledonia, where she and others confronted racist agitator Gary McHale’s planned incursion onto the site known as “the Protected Place.” She was later recharged for allegedly “breaching” unjust bail conditions when she attended the April 28 walk for “Peace, Respect and Friendship,” where people from Six Nations marched with allies under the banner, “We Are All Treaty People.” For more info on Flower’s case see: april28coalition.wordpress.com

Alex Hundert, a long term Indigenous solidarity organiser and activist, was one of 21 people who were hit with a series of conspiracy charges related to planning for the Toronto G20 protests in the summer of 2010. The G20 Main Conspiracy Group and many other activists and organisers were the targets of one of the biggest policing/intelligence/security operations in Canadian history, as the state and the cops sought to smash a burgeoning network of anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anarchist activists and organisers across the country.  For more info on Alex’s case see: http://alexhundert.wordpress.com/

At Six Nations, the last six years have seen a harsh criminalisation of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders. Dozens of people have faced criminal charges, several have served substantial time in jail. In Brantford an injunction was passed, making it illegal for anyone from Six Nations to be involved in a land claims protest within the city; in Flower’s case, we see the further criminalization of land defenders with bail conditions that attempt to keep her away from already reclaimed land.

The G20 in Toronto saw an unprecedented mobilisation—including the June 24 Day of Action for Indigenous Sovereignty and Land Rights—followed by an unprecedented intelligence and security operation and crackdown on dissent. Alex Hundert and 20 others were hit with conspiracy charges as the state sought to criminalize the very acts of organising protests and promoting solidarity.

The intelligence/security operation targeted a growing network of social movements, particularly anarchists, migrant justice activists, and Indigenous sovereigntists and their allies. However this criminalization is nothing new; the state has always criminalized Indigenous, racialized, and poor communities, and especially the resistance movements that spring from them.

Over the last two years, some of the G20 defendants and some of those convicted have received unprecedented levels of support from the activist community—which only goes to show how much potential for support there is in our communities. Currently as the Quebec student strike receives massive outpourings of solidarity and huge contributions to their legal defense funds, it is important to remember that the same level of financial and physical support has not arisen for Indigenous Land Defenders and other front line struggles. This needs to change.

On June 25, come to the San Lorenzo Latin American Community Centre for a speaking event with Six Nations Land Defender Francine “Flower” Doxtator, solidarity activist and G20 “conspirator” Alex Hundert, and other speakers to be announced later. We will be launching a new Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund and talking about the current state of land defense struggles at Six nations and the need for social justice movement solidarity with Indigenous struggles.

On June 26, come pack the courts for Flower and help send the message that we are all indeed “Treaty People,” and that we will support our allies and neighbours against the colonial practices of the Canadian state and the so-called justice system. It is time that Six Nations Land Defenders felt the full support of all of our social justice movements.

April 28 Report Back: Walking for Peace, Respect and Friendship along the Grand River

Honouring our historical agreements through shared action

by Dan Kellar, The Dominion, May 14

On April 28th 2012, a thousand Canadians from across Southern Ontario participated in the Walk, Rally, and Potluck for Peace, Respect, and Friendship and joined with Indigenous land defenders and families who are tired of the inaction and disrespect shown by all levels of Canadian government, to demand that Six Nations land rights be respected.

KITCHENER, ON—If you travel south along the winding 50-kilometres stretch of the Grand River between Kitchener and Caledonia, you will pass farms fields, forests, a sprawling patchwork of towns with their own industrial sites and golf courses, finally coming to the edge of the Six Nations reserve, and eventually, Kanonhstaton, the “protected place”—a site of Haudenosaunee land reclamation and defense. A brief walk from Caledonia’s downtown, the site is still identifiable by the downed hydro tower at the entrance just off the highway, and the skeleton of the trailer burned in early 2008 by a gang of anti-reclamation settlers.

Located on the boundary between the Six Nation reserve and the settler town of Caledonia, Kanonhstaton has brought Indigenous land rights to the forefront of national attention over and over again in the past six years, gaining prominence rarely seen in land occupations since the 1990 Oka standoff.

Kanonhstaton is about reclaiming the land and stopping a housing development known as the Douglas Creek Estates. The initial action by the group of around twenty, mostly woman Indigenous land defenders was met with little protest locally, and instead garnered widespread support from settler allies.

But on April 20, 2006, the Ontario Provincial Police carried out a violent raid on the site, during which OPP tore open tents, tasered, pepper sprayed, beat, and ultimately, arrested 16 Indigenous people. That day, hundreds from the reserve flooded to the site in response to the raid, ejected the police, and proceeded to build road blockades. Following this unsuccessful eviction attempt, groups of white settlers began organising citizen councils and anti-native and anti-reclamation rallies, under a call for a return to the “rule of law and order.”

read more

New Interactive Map! – Haldimand Tract

Haldimand Tract – LINK

This map seeks to outline the territory of the Six Nations as set out in the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784 and the recent struggles to fight off developers planning to profit on stolen land.

The map divides the Haldimand Tracts into smaller tracts based upon the history of land theft orchestrated by the colonial state. The accompanying text outlines the specific claims to that specific tract – contrary to the claims of the state. This history and the geographical boundaries are based upon the research of Phil Monture.

The geographical lines on this map are not 100% accurate and are made as general representations.

The markers indicate various specific land defense hotspots (most of which necessitated the use of direct action). Red markers indicate sites of struggles currently unfolding. Blue markers indicate sites of struggle that are slightly less active – although very much still sites of struggle.

The map has been compiled by a settler ally.

larger map includes detailed legend

On “keeping it local” and “keeping it peaceful” in Caledonia

blog post by Laura McDonald, Kitchener-Waterloo

Yesterday, I participated in a “Peace, Respect, and Friendship” celebration, including a march from Caledonia to Kanonhstaton, the reclamation site just outside of town, and a gigantic party including a bouncy castle, spoken word, speeches, music, and a gigantic potluck.

It was overwhelmingly – no, exclusively – positive. The event was wonderful. I find it bizarre that we needed to reassure people that it was going to be (and now, that it was) “positive” and “nonviolent”. It frustrates me that anyone would assume it wouldn’t be. But I will reassure you anyway: the onlyhositility I witnessed at all today was from people opposed to the event.

But I don’t want to talk about that.

While walking through Caledonia, I saw a restaurant with a sign saying “Keep it local. Keep it peaceful.” A friend of mine took this as a semi-positive thing – at least they were engaging with the issue in a not-overtly-hostile way. That’s a valid way of looking at it, for sure. I, however, saw it as representative of some pretty big misunderstandings that I want to address.

1. Keep it peaceful. I’ll do this one first because it’s easier (and because it’s not what I really want to talk about). Combined with the guy carrying the “anarchists go home” sign all over the place, I saw this as reflecting a common lack of understanding of who activists and anarchists are and what they do.

Always being told to make sure our protests are “peaceful” (and thus “valid”) takes away any agency that we have in just being peaceful because we were going to be anyway. It’s always a surprise that we were peaceful, or assumed that we were forced into being peaceful by the police presence. Like with the recent rainbow demo at UW, this assumption that we need to be told to be peaceful is really insulting and perpetuates a lot of dangerous myths about activism – and people in general. (It also perpetuates a lot of problematic ideas about what constitutes a valid form of protest or civic engagement, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms!)

More specifically, people apparently thought “G20 Anarchists” were going to come to town and smash windows. Um, what? If you know anything at all about anarchists, you know that’s an absurd (and I mean really absurd) thing to think with respect to this event. But most people don’t know very much about anarchists, and don’t try to. For the record, these “G20 Anarchists” were there. Some even played key roles in the explicitly peaceful event, because THIS (walk, make giant banners, prepare food for giant potlucks, arrange busses, show support, etc) is what they do, far more often than smashing windows.

I also think this “keep it peaceful” statement could reflect a fundamentally racist assumption (which is also, importantly, rooted in a complicated experience that I absolutely cannot speak to) that anything relating to Six Nations and the reclamation site is likely to NOT be peaceful. This is clearly wrong, and I hope today helped clear that up.

I think there are reasons people have these misguided notions, in both cases. I hope we can all keep working to dispel these illusions.

2. Keep it local. This statement was clearly directed at the hundreds of people who bussed in from other cities. This says “you don’t live here; you don’t understand; this isn’t your issue”. I fundamentally disagree with this argument pretty much across the board. Indigenous rights, environmental destruction, “development”, nuclear power, civil rights, human rights absuses, whatever – we are all affected and thus have a stake in these things no matter where they’re happening. It’s incredibly dangerous to think we can only fight for justice in our own communities, and we can’t let people tell us that’s how it should be. The boundaries that denote “local” issues are false, in many ways, and I think we all have the right (and duty) to have a say in things going on elsewhere and also to ask others to join in solidarity when dealing with so-called “local” conflicts, as non-native allies were asked to join today.

But in this case there’s also a much more specific reason this bothered me. This is what I want to talk about. While I get why people in Caledonia might feel this way, to an extent, I don’t think that many people (in Caledonia, or here on Facebook) understand that this is local for me. This is local for all of us. Yesterday wasn’t just about Caledonia, or Six Nations, or Kanonhstaton. This is about the entire Haudenosaunee territory, on which I live. On which many of the people who came to the event live. This is about all of the territories on which all of us live.

This event was about the treaties to which we are all beholden, and which we, as settlers, need to fight for, because they have not been upheld by our government, at any level, and it is our responsibility to change that. It is our responsibility to recognize the tremendous harm that has been done – and is still being done – by the immense and intentional dismissal of these treaties by the Canadian government.

We are all treaty people, and we need to start acting like it.

*for more photos from the event see http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/photo/marchrally-solidarity-six-nation-reclamation-april-28/10683