The Dominion - Guelph

Whose Woods These Are

Moira Peters — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:08:00 +0000

Land defenders celebrate a year since Hanlon Creek occupation

OCCUPIED NEUTRAL TERRITORY (GUELPH)—The struggle to defend the Hanlon Creek Wetland Complex (HCWC) against developers and the city of Guelph has been ongoing for close to a decade. Last summer, from July 27 to August 15, this struggle culminated in a 19-day defensive land occupation just south of Guelph, and resulted in a $5 million Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit against five people—myself among them. We were charged with conspiracy, interference with economic relations inducing breach of contract, trespass, nuisance, and intimidation. The Court recognized our struggle by awarding us an injunction against development, which strengthened a popular direct-action campaign to stop development and challenge the city's policies of greenfield development (development of a green space ecosystem, as opposed to redevelopment) and sprawl.

What drove people to stand against the city to prevent development around the HCWC forest? Here is a look at some features of the land that have motivated us. Perhaps you will recognize some of these features in the land around you.

The Struggle to defend the HCWC did not end with the May 2009 occupation. On May 7, 2010, a protest and disruption was held outside of Carson Reids Homes, Astrid J. Clos, Van Harten Surveyors and Guelph City Hall. The three companies are major contributors to sprawling developments in and around Guelph. On May 25, 2010,   City Hall approved a $3 million contract with Capital Paving, a Guelph-based aggregate company, for clearing, grading and servicing one-quarter of the Hanlon Creek site formerly occupied by land defenders. As engines start on the HCWC, a new chapter in the struggle to defend the land and halt the sprawl begins...

Matthew Lowell is rooted in occupied Neutral Territory.

Hanlon Creek Essay

Hanlon Creek Essay 1

Hanlon Creek Essay 2

Hanlon Creek Essay 3

Hanlon Creek Essay 4

Hanlon Creek Essay 6

Hanlon Creek Essay 7

Hanlon Creek Essay 7.5

Hanlon Creek Essay 8

Hanlon Creek Essay 9

A Tale of Two Sites

Moira Peters — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:48:50 +0000

The HCBP occupation and Site 41

SUDBURY, ON—At the end of a summer of activity, a 675-acre tract of land in the south end of Guelph rests relatively quiet. It has won a one-year break from development. It remains, however, a proposed construction site for what the City of Guelph is calling the "Hanlon Creek Business Park" (HCBP). The land itself is home to a rare Old Growth forest; a Provincially Significant Wetland, the Paris-Galt moraine; a vital drinking water recharge zone; and a threatened species called the Jefferson Salamander.

A three-hour drive north of Guelph, another piece of land has seen a lot of action this summer. This place, in Simcoe County, is called Site 41, and is the location for a proposed garbage dump. It sits directly above the Alliston Aquifer, an important source of drinking water in the area, one which international scientists claim provides some of the cleanest drinking water in the world.

The two sites have seen comparable public outcry over the respective proposals for their development; the resulting protests have also brought people together to successfully oppose the developments.

The HCBP in Guelph has been met with much grassroots opposition over the fact old growth trees would be cut and meadows that surround the forest would be paved over, stopping rainfall from percolating into the groundwater.

An old growth tree is one that is 150 years or older, and an old growth forest is one that has been left undisturbed for a similar period of time, allowing for the ecosystem to mature. On the site grows a Hop Hornbeam that is estimated to be between 500 and 600 years old, meaning it likely predates colonization of the western hemisphere. Beyond remaining one of the few forests of its kind in Southern Ontario, the site also provides the exact conditions necessary for the threatened Jefferson Salamander to breed.

As for its impact on water, the HCBP would be built alongside Tributary A, which runs into the Speed River and eventually the Grand River. Any sewage or industrial waste that leaches into the water in Guelph would be passed on to communities downstream, including Cambridge, Brantford and Six Nations, the largest Native reserve in Canada.

After months of city hall meetings, rallies and education campaigns, opposition to the HCBP was not heeded by the City of Guelph and it looked like construction of the HCBP was going to go ahead. This was thrown into question on July 27 when, in the early morning, about 60 people set up an occupation camp on the site, complete with a kitchen, shade structure and composting toilet system.

Meanwhile, in Simcoe County, the Site 41 protest camp had been set up since May 8, initiated by a group of Anishinabe Kweag (Anishinabe women) from Beausoleil First Nation. Vicki Monague was part of the initial group of campers and describes how the weekend camp-out turned into a permanent protest camp:

"May 8, 2009 was the day that we started the camp, and we lit a sacred fire there. At the end of the weekend, we were going to pack up and go home, but it was channeled to our fire keeper that the fire was lit in protection of the water and that purpose had not yet been completed, so we stayed. The fire has been burning now for 112 days (as of Aug 31)."

The Site 41 protest camp drew farmers from the surrounding area who joined with the Anishinabe people. The camp evolved into a blockade later in the summer when the warden of the township announced that trucks hauling garbage would arrive within a couple of weeks.

Local government bodies at both the HCBP and Site 41 have been pushing the developments. The City of Guelph owns about 60 per cent of the proposed HCBP lands and Simcoe County owns Site 41. Each has engaged aggressive legal means to bypass grassroots opposition and to see construction through.

In Guelph on the afternoon of July 31, a group of city representatives, employees, police and an intelligence officer delivered the files the city would use to support its motion for an injunction against the occupation and its lawsuit against several named and unnamed persons.

"You can't submit an injunction without a lawsuit, so the city filed for an injunction as well as a lawsuit," explains Sam Ansleis of the occupation. The lawsuit included allegations of "conspiracy, destruction of property, intimidation [and] extortion." The city was seeking $5 million in damages.

The lawsuit was quickly classified a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) by the occupiers' lawyers.

“The people we showed this [to] were pretty disgusted by the fact that the city would use a SLAPP suit [to discourage public participation] against its own citizens,” said Ansleis.

Guelph City Council had agreed unanimously to launch the lawsuit and injunction following an in-camera council meeting. The suit named a local group, Land Is More Important Than Sprawl (LIMITS), which has been organizing around the HCBP. The group, however, has never been involved in the occupation.

"I don't think that it is unreasonable to assume that the city's intention in naming LIMITS was to create a rift between LIMITS and the occupation, since LIMITS was being implicated in a $5 million SLAPP suit arising from an occupation that they were not involved in," said Ansleis.

Accidentally, it seems, documents accompanying the lawsuit contained copies of correspondences from the Ministry of Natural Resources imploring the city to stop the construction of the HCBP and copies of gag orders against a researcher and a local neighbourhood group. These documents assisted the defendants in winning a counter-injunction against city construction on the lands.

Karen Farbridge, the mayor of Guelph, has come out in active support of the HCBP project, despite being elected on a "green" platform, where she names “clean water, clean air and clean parks” and “encourag[ing] public involvment” as being among her priorities.

Delays caused by the occupation, and the resulting injunction, have led the city to postpone construction until spring 2010. In its press release, the city and Mayor Farbridge are quoted as saying, "A handful of protesters have held our city hostage and ignored democratic processes."

Similarly, in Simcoe County, Tony Guergis was elected mayor of Springwater County in 2006, and during the election stated clearly that he would oppose Site 41. Upon later election in 2007 as Warden to Simcoe County, he oversaw waste management and became a proponent of Site 41. He claims that Site 41 would be a more technically sound site in comparison to the other landfills in the area that are equipped with "inferior engineering."

In response to the blockade and protest camp, some County Council executives launched a lawsuit naming two of the Anishinabe Kweag, seeking damages of $80,000 per week in lost time. "[W]e were estimating that they were going after us for about half a million," said Monague.

On August 25, county council voted to drop the lawsuit and to instate a one-year moratorium on construction at Site 41.

When questioned about whether or not construction would continue at Site 41 next year, Guergis pointed to the cost of renewing permits and winterizing, along with the considerable public pressure, as reasons for not going ahead. "It seems an impossible situation to get approval to reopen the site 12 months from now."

He also pointed out that "100 per cent" of the houses in the county put garbage at the curb every week, implying that those in the community are to blame for the need to open a new dump site.

"I think we have to stop and say we are going to wait for direction from those dealing with the issues. So we will look to the people on the ground and see what their decisions are regarding their own garbage," he said.

Guergis claims that Site 41 would be used almost exclusively for residential garbage, but when pressed further about corporate waste, he stated, “Anyone could pay to dump there.”

Guergis has made statements characterizing people at Site 41 as simply not wanting a dump being constructed “in their backyards.” However, the people themselves cite different reasons for wanting to protect the site.

"I was raised traditionally, raised to do ceremonies for the water, and raised with the inherent responsibility and duty to protect the water for the seven generations to come," Monague explained. "I did what I did for the water. Not just for me, but because we could all use a little less contamination."

On September 22, county council voted to permanently cancel the plans for Site 41. Only then was the sacred fire at the protest camp extinguished.

In Guelph, Ansleis sees the delayed construction of the HCBP as a victory. "We were successful in our goal; our goal was to stop construction of the culvert for this summer. The project will continue in the spring, so resistance will continue in the spring."

She added: "This resistance has not only been about the the Hanlon Creek Business Park. It is about this kind of development that is taking place all over Turtle Island."

Monague also recognizes that, while a victory at Site 41 has been achieved, the issue is not resolved. "The important thing now is that, even though we got the moratorium, the work definitely is not done. I know that many of us will be working to make sure that the water is protected.

"This partnership [that we have experienced around Site 41] between native and non-native communities is pretty much historic. I don't remember a partnership like this ever happening around here and i think it is going to last for a long, long time."

Shailagh Keaney is from Sudbury, in occupied Atikameksheng Anishnawbek territory.

To read more, see For the Water by Dan Kellar and Alex Hundert, and "Protect Mother Earth, Don't Settle for Less" by Adam Lewis.

Site 41 Sunrise

Site 41 - Water Ceremony

“Protect Mother Earth, Don’t Settle for Less”

dru — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:10:18 +0000

Direct action stops development at the Hanlon Creek Business Park

On July 27, 2009 more than 60 people occupied the Hanlon Creek Business Park (HCBP)in south Guelph, effectively halting all construction. These land defenders from Guelph, Kitchener, Hamilton, Kingston, London and beyond entered the site in order to stop construction on an ecologically sensitive area, adjacent to one of Southern Ontario’s last remaining old growth forests. The forest is home to trees estimated to be over 500 years old and the surrounding habitat may contain the federally protected Jefferson Salamander.

According to the group's blog, having “watched every legal process fail [them]”, the land defenders “wanted to take a stand and do something more to protect the land.” The use of direct action, in the form of blockading further construction, including all entrances, was seen as a last line of defense for the forest. The action was articulated, in the initial press release, as an intervention into the city’s “destruction of this vital land,” with previous city consultations with MNR and the public dubbed a “farce.” According to the blog, given that the city had begun construction on and destruction of the land, any consultations were thus meaningless as the city was not genuinely interested in the health of the landbase.

The site was made accessible to friendly visitors and media, and sought to steer away from militant confrontation. As soon as the land defenders entered the site, camp preparations began in order to hold off construction until September 15 (the deadline for the city to complete construction for this year due to environmental regulations), or stop the project altogether. Every detail was conceived of, including a composting toilet, tents and several communal shelters. I was fortunate enough to support this action from its beginning, having been asked to participate by folks from Guelph.

The solidarity and community spirit associated with the occupation group was clearly evident from the beginning of the action. Many of those gathered had strong pre-existing relationships, having collaborated on political action, lived in the same area, or met through actions of solidarity with indigenous struggles. A shared sense of openness, purpose and mutual aid was the basis of emerging solidarity that was a focal point for those involved.

Since the beginning of the direct action against the HCBP, there was a clearly agreed-upon conclusion that this occupation was first and foremost to be a space of resistance. This was to ensure a “safe and healthy space” focused on the defense of the land, and to forgo all reason for police intervention, such as substance abuse or partying. This was to define all camp activities. The point was to maintain a sense of purpose and direction for a potentially tense political situation that seemed inevitable and to continue to examine the place of action against the HCBP in a wider resistance movement.

There was no formal organization or ideological definition by members of the occupation. The three flags that flew atop the lookout tower permitted some speculation into the politics of the group but are hardly an exhaustive representation. The Mohawk Warrior flag was followed by the Two Row Wampum and finally by the Green Anarchist flag. The "Two Row" is comprised of two parallel purple lines, one of which symbolizes Indigenous peoples and the other the non-Indigenous with whom treaties have been signed. The two lines do not pass and represent the autonomy of both groups in their use of the land.

In recognition to the ongoing assault on Indigenous communities, this flag stands as a symbol of solidarity with Indigenous peoples, as does the Warrior Flag. The action began with the intention of engaging in solidarity with the Indigenous groups whose traditional territory we were seeking to protect. Formal support came from the Six Nations Hoskanigetah (Men’s Fire). The group issued a statement calling for “the Corporation of the City of Guelph to CEASE AND DESIST the development of the Hanlon Creek Business Park.”

The green anarchist flag is split diagonally, one half black for anarchism and the other green (in this case camouflage) for radical environmentalism. Perhaps a unifying point for the group is that this action is part of a broader struggle to challenge the supremacy of cultural modes and statist power. It is an exercise in confrontation, as well as part of a broader struggle for creating alternative spaces.

The processes employed by the group also served to exemplify an alternative to the current culture with decisions made using group input and a mode of consensus decision making. Eschewing hierarchy and oppressive practices, those assembled sought to put into practice a new mode of community and solidarity-based organizing. This included rotating tasks and responsibilities to ensure equal participation and to acknowledge the specific needs of different members of the group. This process included group decisions and input on everything from tactics to tasks to messaging and interaction with the broader public. In this sense the occupation camp came to be an example of autonomous organizing, against or as an alternative to the oppressive and hierarchical modalities of everyday capitalist/statist society.

The alternative politics of the group has allowed individuals to gain a connection to the land. Living with plants and animals and flowing water for over a week made a personal connection with the landbase possible. It reinforced the need to protect natural spaces from the onslaught of capitalist “progress.” Simply spending time on the land and interacting with it first hand goes a long way to forming a clear understanding of why such spaces must be saved from the unrelenting development machine. Stepping softly through the old growth and wetland areas, the usual drudgery of urban life and the banalities of capitalist economics were further from our thoughts.

We held plant and tree walks, expanding understanding of the very life systems at work around us. Modern societies sever their connections to the natural spaces that allow for their very existence, and Hanlon Creek is no exception.

The Hanlon Creek occupation stood for 20 days before a court injunction ordered the removal of the land defenders. The defenders may have vacated the site, but construction has yet to continue. A second injunction was issued against the city that would halt construction until September 13.

A further condition of the City injunction is that the Ministry of Natural Resources has final say over the future of the site. The ministry had previously stated its opposition to the development, indicating in a July 31 letter to the City of Guelph that it was “not in a position to support the continued construction of municipal services for Phases 1 and 2 of HCBP in absence of complete information regarding the extent of Jefferson Salamander habitat,” though city officials denied this. Despite this opposition, on Thursday, August 27, Donna Cansfield, Minister of Natural Resources, decided not to issue a stop work order that would prevent further construction of the Hanlon Creek Business Park. The very ministry that oversees natural spaces and habitats has now rendered this ecologically sensitive area insignificant, despite evidence to the contrary.

Interestingly, the city was attempting to extend the construction deadline by appealing to the rand River Conservation Authority, but as of now has postponed all construction until spring 2010. In a September 3 press release, the city stated that further work would be postponed as an extension would require de-watering of the construction area. The mayor also stated that the city had been held “hostage” by the protesters who “ignored democratic processes.” The city is still unable to grasp how it is failing the citizens of Guelph by demolishing vital natural areas, and does not acknowledge the inherent problems of the so called “democratic process." Despite this recent victory, the fight to stop the Hanlon Creek Business Park is not over yet and widespread public support, in the form of letters and emails, is still required to ensure that the development is halted indefinitely.

In the case of Hanlon Creek, direct action was able to bring about a turning point in the state of the development and force further action by the Ministry, but it seems the bureaucratic legalist means of engagement have failed yet again.

Without our landbase, we lose the crucial support systems that enable life to exist. In a culture with growth and increased consumption as its core values, it is direct experiences in alternative relationships in the social and natural realms that make way for community-based politics centered on mutual aid and free from hierarchy and oppression. It is these alternative spaces in which we may be able to begin to understand relationships to our lives and the life around us.

For more information on the occupation please visit the occupation blog at hcbpoccupation.wordpress.com or peaceculture.org.

Adam Lewis organizes with AW@L in Kitchener and spent 9 days at the Hanlon Creek occupation site as one of the land defenders. This is his interpretation of the events as they took place at the development site. He can be reached at lewis.f.adam@gmail.com.

First Morning

Three Flags

Occupation to save Old Growth Forest in Guelph

Tim McSorley — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:00:42 +0000

3697953215_918f341a2a_b.jpg

Residents of Guelph, ON, have been occupying the proposed site of the Hanlon Creek Busines Park. The site is also home to Guelph's Old Growth Forest, and endangers local wetlands and the Jefferson Salamander, on Ontario's official threatened species list.

The occupation began on Monday, July 27th. They were notified that they would be evicted as of July 30th at 4pm, but the time came and went and protestors are still there.

More information is available on their blog at http://hcbpoccupation.wordpress.com, or contact them for interviews or more information at +15198206280, +15198206239 or hcbpoccupatio[at]gmail[dot]com. They are also inviting supporters to the site to lend a hand - a map with directions can be found on their website.

Photo by Sal Jefferson

Tour, Day 10: Guelph

dru — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:06:25 +0000

tourphotos-56.jpg

Guelph saw two events, back to back. The first was a quick gathering at the Bookshelf's eBar, and the second was more of a student crowd at the University. We chatted with Mary Skerrett of CHAN, Karen Houle, and fielded a lot of thoughtful questions from a great many others.

It was good to see something of a nascent movement towards awareness of native sovereignty issues and a possible tilt towards decolonization among some of the student organizers.

A Pleasing Demeanor

Thu, 30 Sep 2004 21:08:01 +0000

This spirited Calgary native has finally found his zone.

The "Hockey Song" is available at krisdemeanor.com.

Nearing the end of his set at this summer's Hillside Festival in Guelph, Kris Demeanor arrived at Down in the Zone, his rollicking discourse on Canada's national obsession. It's an excellent song, and it exemplifies Demeanor's irreverent pop artistry.

Though the song is ostensibly about hockey, it actually plays on the banal sexual metaphors ("scoring" etc.) associated with the sport in order to subvert the vacuous machismo that is so pervasive in our nation's rinks and bars. The tune unfolds as a witty and self-deprecating satire in which the singer's macho boasts continually dissolve into the titular lament, "I never have a clue what to do/ When I'm down in the zone."

Clearly, that's a lot to pack into a couple of minutes. Sensing this, Demeanor favoured his uninitiated audience with an introductory anecdote concerning a performance at a high school in Denmark.

"Their English wasn't very good," Demeanor related, "so, much of the lyrical effect of my songs was lost on them. After the set, however, a boy approached me."

Here Demeanor adopted a thick Scandinavian accent in order to recount the young Dane's grave words: "That song, Down in the Zone, it is not about hockey."

With that, Demeanor broke into a huge smile, and his band took off, leaving the audience members to draw their own conclusions about the nature of "the zone." The crowd laughed and lapped the song up, just as they had for the rest of Demeanor's humourous and theatrical performance.

While the audience was cheering by the end of Demeanor's set, it's a good bet that most in attendance didn't know much about him before he hit the stage. That's because, up to this point, Demeanor has devoted his energies to building up a following in Europe and Western Canada.

Though Demeanor hails from Calgary, and his songs often refer to the West, he admits he has a complicated relationship with the region.

"I still can't figure out whether or not I feel a particular connection to the West and its culture," he says. "Some of my songs are direct products of the Western experience, but they tend to be more universal stories of human joy and trouble and could probably have been written in Michigan or Israel."

In fact, many of his songs actually were written in far-flung locales. A youthful wanderlust drove Demeanor to flee the long shadow of the Rockies for the bustling streets of Europe and the Middle East, a move that turned out to be critical to his artistic development.

"[That trip] was a first-rate musical education," Demeanor maintains. "The year and a half busking and writing in Europe gave me the nerve to play live. There's nothing more challenging or humbling than busking in Glasgow in December in the rain, desperately needing another 50 pence for a can of cider."

The experience also helped him develop his theatrical performance style. "My energetic and somewhat spastic playing style was a direct product of having to play everything fast and loud in order to get people's attention on the street."

Returning to Calgary, Demeanor formed the band Tinderbox in 1994. Five years later, he struck out on his own with his self-titled debut album. Since then, Demeanor has toured steadily, and in 2002 he released his second solo album, entitled Lark.

That release heralded his arrival as a singer-songwriter with a lyrical sensibility reminiscent of Dan Bern. The collection of folk-pop songs addresses many societal issues including alienation and superficiality, particularly in the biting spoken-word piece Extreme to Me.

Though Demeanor deconstructs these issues with a sharp and cerebral wit, that force is tempered by an engaging sense of wonder that effectively guards against cynicism. Demeanor attributes this to a creative technique he learned from his father.

"I try to approach songwriting the same way my Dad approaches visual art. He used to tell his students to forget the masters, forget copying famous pieces, forget

technique, and pretend you are the first neanderthal in the first cave picking up a piece of ochre for the first time. What are you going to draw? Why are you drawing it?"

This approach has enabled Demeanor to explore contemporary issues pertaining to prostitution and gender identity in a sensitive and elucidatory manner. Demeanor is adept at crystallizing the essence of complex issues in detailed characterizations, thereby making them tangible and poignantly human.

The songs One of Two Things (about a bookmobile turned prostitute outreach clinic) and Cactus Man exemplify this ability. Demeanor admits that he initially had reservations about the latter song. "I was a little wary of the potential pitfalls of a five and a half minute transvestite suicide ballad. I thought at first it was too heavy and bizarre."

He forged on, however, and the result was a tender narrative that takes the most essential of Western images as its metaphoric centre. "The genesis of the idea for the song came from that life cycle idea, inspired by a near dead cactus in my room that everyone kept telling me to throw out, but that miraculously sprung a bright red shooting star flower one weekend."

That compelling image could also represent the artist himself, as he appears to be in full bloom. Demeanor has a new live album – entitled Party all Night! – and a Scandinavian tour planned for November.

Demeanor will also continue to write because, as he says, "a songwriter is only really happy when he knows he's written a good song." By that measure, this restless spirit should be enthused about his efforts thus far, even as he pushes on in search of the next great chorus or fascinating country.

***

To find out more about Kris Demeanor, and to hear his "hockey" song, check out www.krisdemeanor.com.

Chris Cwynar listens to Chris Demeanor's irreverent pop artistry.

American Patriot from Guelph?

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:40:42 +0000

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Sam Turton: "There are no real borders... but in this case policies in the US are affecting all of us and we have a right to speak to that"

Every movement needs a theme song.

So I was told by that 1998 satire 'Wag the Dog', a movie I watched last week with increasingly mirthless laughter. Its "fake war" was too eerily true, and my position as a spectator too uncomfortably familiar. Then I got to speak with a Canadian who actually has written a theme song, and who is overturning his role as spectator to the American administration.

Sam Turton is a longtime singer-songwriter now settled in Guelph, Ontario. His anthem, currently flying around the inter-world on downloadable mp3, is a single called "Patriot." The impossibly direct message of this track slices to the heart of Bush's militaristic PR.

"Patriot" refuses that last bastion of nationalistic propaganda-the "you're with us or against us" mentality that characterizes crusaders of any persuasion. Its lyrics reclaim dissent itself as patriotic, demanding that the listener think beyond any blind nationalism to a more essential ideal. "I have a lot of American friends," says Turton, "and I send them information all the time because they're living in a media blackout. This song grew out of that sense of...world community, of being in Canada, just feeling very affected by what Bush's administration has been doing."

"If mainstream America heard this song without the words, they'd love it," Turton declared. It's easy to agree. "Patriot" mixes a down-home country flavour with a fife-and-drum-type motif which sure does waken a sense of the old Stars and Stripes. Now perhaps I'll be forgiven for craving a little variety in "Patriot's" refrain...but when one has the propaganda of the current climate to counter (Did anybody else hear about the new truckers-against-terror vigilante program?), there's value in what's catchy and direct.

In "Patriot", all-American musical style and thematic content are comfortably entwined, a deliberate choice. Instead of using biting humour, the beloved weapon of Bush-bashers, Turton chose infectious rhythm and melody to snare his audience and convey his earnest message. Although this intersection of art and politics is a new project for Turton, a musician for some 30 years, the passion driving the project is tempered by pragmatism. Lots of "activist music" is about personal expression, he says, but he disciplined "Patriot" to resist murky artistry and speak to a large and mainstream audience.

And what, I wondered (always willing to jump in and ask the obvious), do audiences think of some Canadian guy singing at them about American politics? "Mmmmm," said Turton, "People don't usually appreciate people from other countries coming in and commenting on their political processes."

Well, no. Yet Turton has had only positive responses, having now performed at a variety of venues in Ontario, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and currently preparing for some gigs in Greenwich Village.

Is this success because he's been preaching to the converted? Actually, no: his first and most nervous "Patriot" performance was to a staid bunch in rural Pennsylvania. Oddly enough the only belligerent audience member he's yet encountered was at home in Guelph.

Ideally, a reasonably well-known US artist will pick up the song and re-release it in the US, spreading the message and inspiring people to oust Bush come November. Barring that, as time ticks along and the election approaches, Turton hopes for media attention (I coughed politely) and increased radio play of his own recording.

Having only just recovered from my annual phobic response to Canada Day, though, I did have to raise some concerns about this whole "I am a patriot [repeat]" idea. Patriotism is chauvinism, no doubt about it, and Turton is ready to say so. "There are no real borders, of course; economically, socially, environmentally...but in this case policies in the US are affecting all of us and we have a right to speak to that." The rhetoric of the song is a tactic, then, an effort to use patriotism to curtail its own excesses.

The Canadian federal election, on the other hand, came and went without any Sam Turton sound bites. "I was pretty uncomfortable about that, actually," Turton admitted, "though it was a joke amongst my friends. Here we were, realizing that Stephen Harper's a little Bush, and I don't have a song!" Letters to the editor were his route on that one.

With "Patriot", both sound and message are a departure from Turton's usual approach. Although the song implicitly denounces the authoritarian Bush administration, Turton ordinarily shies away from such generalized criticism. Ideals of compassion are central to his career, as a primal integration therapist, and also to his musical compositions. The variety of tracks on his 2003 album 'feel' are more representative and were selected to evoke a "vibrant, primal, fully feeling way of life." To this end Turton uses uncomplicated lyrics and a range of musical styles, many rooted in bluesy, R&B traditions which have your foot tapping and your neck loosened by the onset of the second bar. The sound puts me in mind of summer evenings, sundried fields, beer, friends and the well-mixed satisfaction there entailed.

The lyrics in "Patriot" use an American voice, but the song surely speaks for many Canadian spectators: get out and vote in November, dear neighbours, please. And with "Patriot" jingling in the back of your head, you're likely to feel proud about it.

Every movement needs a theme song.