Sitting in his office on the outskirts of Montreal, Serge Otis Simon, council chief of the Kanastake — a band of Mohawks — is clear about what might happen if the proposed Energy East Pipeline is routed through the band's land, in spite of their opposition. "The Warrior Society are men whose duty is given by creation to protect the land, people, and community," he told me, describing a group of Mohawks who go by that name.
Inuit and environmental groups are at the climate change summit in Paris to warn against the the environmental, human and security threats of climate change and lobby for action.
The United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) started this week in Paris, bringing together indigenous and environmental groups from across the globe lobbying for decisive action on climate change that address both the environmental as well as the human cost of global warming.
It’s hard to imagine a block of chemical plants mere kilometres from the University of Toronto campus or near our homes. And yet, about a three-hour drive away, Aamjiwnaang First Nation is surrounded on three sides by
Canada’s largest concentration of petrochemical refineries.
The B.C. government is proposing to increase moose-hunting for a Peace Region First Nation to compensate for impacts of the Site C dam.
For the First Nation and others concerned about the $8.8-billion hydroelectric project which this month marked 100 days of construction, the moose meat in question is one item on a list of Site C-related controversies disturbing the Peace.
Today in Victoria, lawyers representing two First Nations will be in B.C. Supreme Court arguing that the provincial government violated First Nation rights by rushing to approve the controversial $9 billion (and counting) Site C dam on the Peace River.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, which is one of three B.C. First Nations legal proceedings against Site C currently underway, First Nations opposition to Site C is understandable.
The Tsawwassen First Nation will proceed with a vote on plans to build an LNG export facility just north of the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, it announced on Monday.
"The preliminary concept looks at a plan somewhere between three million and five million metric tonnes per annum," said Tsawwassen First Nation spokesman Chris Hartman.
"In terms of tanker traffic associated with that, probably somewhere in the range of four to five LNG carriers a month, or about one a week."
The Mohawk community at the centre of the Oka Crisis is leading plans to hold a ceremony aimed at solidifying an Indigenous alliance against the proposed Energy East pipeline.
Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon said the ceremony is expected to take place in British Columbia this coming spring.
The Treaty 8 Tribal Association has set up an observation shack overlooking the Peace River at the Site C dam site where opponents and other interested parties can watch what critics say is the destruction of the Peace River valley.
The new Liberal government has promised to implement the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples just over a year after Stephen Harper raised objections to it.
