The Dominion - The Dominion

September in Review

Sandra — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:45:29 +0000

Safer streets, detention deaths, anti-oil actions, and Harper's hairdo

Motion 312, which proposed to study the Criminal Code's definition of when life begins, was defeated 203 to 91 in the House of Commons. The motion could have opened the door for the criminalization of abortion. Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose voted in favour of the motion.

Hundreds of people rallied in Christie Pits, following a string of sexual assaults against women in the Toronto neighbourhood. "I think the sheer numbers of individuals who attended on such a short notice demonstrate that individuals recognize that only collective and community based resistance will stop this kind of violence," Liz Brockfest told the Toronto Media Co-op.

Rallies, marches and vigils against violence against women were held in cities across Canada, including Take Back the Night in Sudbury and a SlutWalk protest in Winnipeg.

An internal RCMP report released through Access to Information laws found an overwhelming perception that perpetrators of harassment and bullying of female officers would face no real consequences. The RCMP is facing lawsuits, including a case seeking class action certification, from more than 200 current and former female RCMP officers and employees.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) representatives took the province and RCMP to task on policing and detention issues in the Northlands Denesuline First Nation in Lac Brochet. The community hockey arena is being used for indiscriminate detention for safety reasons, assault or drug and alcohol issues.

Inmates were found dead in the Saskatoon Correctional Centre and the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.

Iraq war resister Kimberley Rivera was deported from Canada, separated from her family and placed in custody in the US, despite widespread protests and organized support efforts.

The House of Commons Public Safety Committee recommended electronic ankle bracelets for refugee claimants. The committee's report recommends that the Canada Border Services Agency "review the use and cost effectiveness of electronic monitoring with the aim of reducing the occurrence of inadmissible individuals who are not presenting themselves for removal," according to Postmedia News.

Provincial Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced that Manitoba will provide refugee health services and bill the federal government, despite Canada's decision to cut some health benefits.

Lake St. Martin First Nation evacuees held a roadside camp and protest to demand solutions to their relocation and housing issues. The Manitoba reserve has been considered uninhabitable since flooding in May 2011.

Dozens of Northwest Territories residents attended a hearing to express concerns about clean-up plans for the thousands of tonnes of arsenic dust left behind by the Giant Mine.

After a four-year assessment, the Nunavut Impact Review Board approved Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation's plans to build a $4 billion project at the top of Baffin Island, including a 17,000-hectare open pit iron mine, railway and port.

A Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board report estimates that electricity rates would increase between 10 and 20 per cent if a proposed mine near Mayo is added to the power grid.

The Resource Revenue Transparency Working Group, a new group comprised of mining industry associations and NGOs focused on transparency, announced that it would begin work on disclosure policies regarding company payments to governments. "This is a groundbreaking collaboration between the mining industry and NGOs," said Mining Association of Canada CEO Pierre Graton.

The new Quebec government announced that the province's only nuclear power plant, Gentilly-2, will be shut down instead of undergoing a $2 billion refurbishment. The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in New Brunswick is still not back online despite completing refurbishment, after three years of delays. NB Power refuses to provide an explanation.

Mi'kmaq people set up a partial blockade of the Trans-Canada Highway in Auld's Cove, NS, the access point to Cape Breton, in opposition to exploratory oil and gas drilling by PetroWorth Resources. Many people travelled to support the action, including an anti-fracking brigade from Halifax. A week later, an information picket drew more than 200 people. "We're not going to give up, because we love our ancestors, we love our future generations, and we love our children and grandchildren," Elizabeth Marshall told the Halifax Media Co-op.

Tsleil Waututh, Squamish and other paddlers signed a declaration to protect the Salish Sea from Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion plans, after they paddled past the company's tar sands-linked project in the Burrard Inlet. Activists in Victoria crashed a Kinder Morgan open house and intercepted Union of BC Municipalities delegates on their way into a Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers reception.

After months of Musqueam protest to protect an ancient burial ground site from condo development, the BC government changed the site's heritage value and allowed alteration permits to expire.

Newfoundland and Labrador MHA for Lake Melville Keith Russell criticized some Muskrat Falls hydro-electric mega-project critics on CBC radio, saying, "I don't buy into the mumbo jumbo about the trail leading to the Muskrat Falls site as being sacred ground. You can romanticize and sensationalize that particular piece of land all you want, but it is a resource."

A rock drill, acid and a power washer were used to destroy ancient pictograms and petroglyphs on a rock formation in Glenwood, Alberta, shortly before they were to be closely surveyed.

Christian and Muslim parents came together to take issue with any classroom discussion of homosexuality, birth control, evolution, wizardry or "environmental worship" in Greater Toronto Area schools, requesting advance notification.

In support of their teachers' right to strike, Manitouwadge High School students held a protest march against Bill 115 in Ontario. Hamilton public high school teachers wore black to protest the imposition of a contract involving a wage freeze and a two-year strike ban. Education workers staged a funeral for collective bargaining rights.

The Conservative majority blocked PEI MP Wayne Easter's attempt to table for debate a report about the impact on workers of changes to Employment Insurance.

Posing as Stephen Harper, Quebec radio comedy duo The Masked Avengers managed to speak with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the UN General Assembly. "Harper" apologized for not being able to attend the meeting because he was too busy combing his hair with super glue.

Girls can have the night

Canoes against KMP

June in Review

Miles — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:20:04 +0000

Hundert sentenced, sex re-assignment surgery re-financed, hate-crime laws silenced, and reading makes you a better person

The province of Alberta has reinstated funding for sex reassignment surgery (SRS, also referred to as gender reassignment surgery) three years after cutting it from the provincial budget.

Ontario’s Bill 13, known as anti-bullying bill, was passed, insisting that Catholic School Board allow the formation of Gay-Straight Alliances in its schools.

Toby’s Act, Bill 33, was passed after a long wait in Ontario, which serves to amend the Human Rights Code to include gender identity and extend rights to trans- people.

Toronto municipal funding for Pride is safe for one more year, despite worries that it would be pulled or lessened on account of controversies over the participation of the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. The worry still stands for 2013 funding, as the mayor and other city officials have expressed discontent with the group.

Recent changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act removed sections about hate speech legislation online. The changes received little media attention and is causing concern, while being applauded by white supremacist groups.

Toronto was in the media spotlight after the shootings in its Eaton Centre on June 2, leaving 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan dead and six others wounded, including one 13-year-old. This tragic incident has also served to reinforce racist stereotypes and bring up issues or racial profiling particularly of youth of colour.

Alex Hundert was sentenced to 13.5 months in prison on charges related to his activism against the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010. "I would like to propose that we now strengthen those linkages by turning the massive capacity for support that we have developed over the past two years towards supporting front line land defenders from Six Nations," wrote in an open letter to his supporters.

A grassroots First Nations march took to the streets in Vancouver on National Aboriginal Day to protest federal funding cuts to youth programs. Two days earlier, a First Nations protest was held against cuts and austerity in Sudbury.

Thousands of First Nations, Metis and Inuit residential school survivors and others participated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's fourth national event in Saskatoon.

Arrestees at two separate 'Casserole' Quebec solidarity protests in Vancouver said they were locked in a dark garage for an hour, intimidated and banned from downtown until August. One woman announced that she had to remove her bra and skirt and was subject to stares by all-male officers.

Protests against tuition fee increases and the Quebec government's Law 78 (meant to reign in the protests) continued in Quebec. Hundreds participated in a demonstration meant to disrupt the opening night of the Montreal Grand Prix, which protesters denounced as a spectacle of the ultra-rich, glamorising cars and promoting sexism. Montreal police were accusedof political profiling during the weekend-long event, with several reported cases of people being detained, searched and ejected from the city's subway system for wearing the red square, symbol of the strike.

Two journalists from French-language daily Le Devoir who went undercover wearing red squares reported that police told them that they were working for the Grand Prix that weekend.

A province-wide day of action organized by student groups on June 22 brought an estimated 15,000 to the streets of Quebec City and another 100,000 in Montreal. Pots and pans demonstrations have also continued in the province, and spread across the country and internationally, with over 160 cities participating.

The Superior Court of Quebec rejectedrequests to suspend both Law 78 as well as new municipal regulations in Montreal. Both impose new conditions on the ability to protest, including requiring protesters to provide their routes to police (in the case of Law 78, eight hours in advance). Superior Court Justice François Rolland said that while the cases could go forward, there was no irreparable damage caused by either regulation, and that they would therefore continued to be applied until a court rules against them.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield wrote in a June 14 letter that the newly amended Fisheries Act will now "provide flexibility and establish new tools to authorize deposits of deleterious substances." In short, polluters will now have more options to pollute.

Downstream from the Alberta tar sands, members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) found two deformed, lesion covered fish in Lake Athabasca near the community of Fort Chipewyan.

A counter-terror unit was created in Alberta "to protect tar sands" and other energy infrastructure. The Integrated National Security Enforcement Team will be led by RCMP and include officers from CSIS, CBSA, and Edmonton and Calgary police forces. "[In] our role of preventing these threats from occurring, it is important that intelligence is collected against the activities of groups before they become violent," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud.

Environment Canada released a warning against the potential release of chromium 6, a priority substance regulated by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, as chromium mining appears set to get under way in Northern Ontario's "Ring of Fire", 500km north of Thunder Bay.

Six First Nations are preparing eviction notices for mining companies operating in the Ring of Fire region, in northwestern Ontario. If Canada and Ontario do not engage in government-to-government negotiations with the First Nations, all mining companies in the area will be given 30 days to leave.

On June 13, Yoli Oqueli, an activist organizing against Vancouver-based Radius Gold in Guatemala, was shot three times by gunmen on a motorcycle as she left a community blockade at the entrance to the Tambor mine. She is in stable condition, but a bullet remains lodged near her spine, between a kidney and a lung.

Repression continued against opponents of mining in Oaxaca, Mexico. Two activists were shot on June 16 by gunmen allegedly linked to the Municipal President of San José del Progreso and to Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver. Both are recovering from their wounds.

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was ousted in what he has called a parliamentary coup. Lugo has said that he will create an alternative government, calling his replacement illegitimate. Numerous Latin American countries have recalled their ambassadors.

Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on June 19, seeking political asylum. Wanted for questioning in Sweden, where the Swedish prosecutor has noted he will be placed in prison upon arrival, Assange fears that from there he will be extradited and prosecuted in the U.S for his role in Wikileaks.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who in 2007 noted that it would be acceptable to kill 1,000,000 Palestinians in retribution, has been appointed to head a supervisory committee for Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Reading books equals good behaviour, as inmates in some of Brazil's most notorious prisons will be able to shave up to 48 days off of each year of their sentences.

Aboriginal youth program cuts protest

Alex Hundert

August in Review, Part I

Martin Lukacs — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:00:39 +0000

Free trade deals cut, New Orleans police charged, Alberta tar sands challenged

Over 1,500 people marched through Fredericton this month to demand an end to hydraulic fracking and shale gas exploration in New Brunswick. Local residents are concerned with the effects that fracking may have on their water supply. Other actions in protest, including a blockade, have been used in recent days.

A report quietly released by Environment Canada shows that the development of the Alberta tar sands will undo any gains in carbon-reductions from the phase out of coal-based electricity and ensure Canada exceeds its official carbon-reduction targets by 30 percent. By 2020, emissions from the tar sands will have tripled from 2005 levels, and constitute 12 per cent of the country's total emissions.

During a meeting in Washington Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird lobbied Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to give the go-ahead for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil to refineries in Texas. Protests opposing the pipeline's construction, involving more than 1,500 people engaging in civil disobedience, are set to take place in Washington at the end of August.

Friends of the Earth Europe published a report documenting that the Canadian and Albertan governments have organized a hundred lobbying events since the fall of 2009 to beat-back the European Union's plan for legislation targeting tar sands imports to Europe.

Natural Resources Canada admitted that a high-level meeting between industry and government to "turn up the heat" in advocacy of the Alberta tar sands was organized by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Their plans also included targeting the environmental protection efforts proposed by Canadian provinces, such as cleaner fuel standards.

The only new coal power plant being proposed for construction in Canada, by Maxim Power in Alberta, was given approval by the provincial regulator. Critics charged that the process was deliberately rushed to ensure it could be built before the introduction of new federal rules that would require new plants to drastically cuts their pollution. The Maxim Power plant would emit three million tonnes of pollutions every year – the equivalent of adding 600,000 cars to roads in Canada – making it far more dirty than would be allowed by expected new regulations. Pembina Institute and Ecojustice have filed a court challenge to appeal the decision.

Environment Canada will cut more than 700 jobs – over 10 per cent of their staff. Farmers and climate scientists expressed grave concerns that the cuts would deteriorate weather surveillance and forecasting that are growing more important as rural areas begin to undergo climate-induced changes.

Four police officers were charged for participating in the Sept. 4, 2005, shootings in New Orleans in which two civilians were killed and four were seriously injured in the aftermath of the Katrina hurricane. Another officer was convicted of helping the others cover up the incident.

The Canadian Medical Association released a report after a year-long public consultation that showed that most Canadians are dissatisfied with the health care system. The report was highly critical, saying “the health care system is fractured to such a degree that it is, in some ways, a system in name only.”

Members of the Lake St. Martin First Nation met Tuesday with Manitoba officials about the relocation of their reserve, which has been plagued by flooding for decades. This year about 600 residents were forced from their homes in May.

A report by a First Nations leader showed there are currently more Indigenous children in some form of care than when the residential school system was in place. Severe discrepancies between the quality of child welfare services on and off reserve have largely contributed to this trend, coined the "Millennium Scoop."

Employees of Vancouver's JJ Bean coffee chain have been rallying for a union, hoping its creation would bring about a change in the power dynamic between owners, managers and employees.

Members of the Save the Pantages Site Coalition, a grouping of over 30 organizations seeking to save old Pantages Theatre in Vancouver from condo redevelopment, denounced the demolition of the building citing health and safety violations.

Feminist and sex work activist Wendy Babcock was found dead this month in Toronto of an apparent suicide. Babcock had been awarded the Toronto Public Health Champion in 2008 for her tireless work to implement harm reduction strategies for sex workers.

The Syrian government continued its crackdown on pro-democracy forces, resulting in the deaths of thousands. Anonymous, the rag-tag group of hackers, took action and hacked the Syrian Ministry of Defence's website.

Writer and broadcaster Darcus Howe shed light on the root causes of rioting in London this month in two interviews with the BBC. He pointed to the frustrations of poor young people and especially young black people, who are routinely brutalized by city police.

A town hall over the proposal to include Nova Scotia in the African Union was held in Halifax this week. The proposal would see the African Nova Scotian population included in the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus.

The British Columbia government's failure to provide legal funding has caused two women's groups to withdraw from participating in the trial of Robert Pickton. Only 11 community groups remain as participatory community groups in the trial. “The failure to fund counsel for Aboriginal, sex worker and front line women’s organizations essentially shuts these groups out of the Inquiry,” said the West Coast LEAF Women's Legal and Education Action Fund in a press release.

Just weeks after a brutal anti-Islamic rampage in Norway killed scores of youths, Muslims were on the defensive in riot-torn London after three young Muslims were run down. Closer to home, America prepares to remember the 10th anniversary of September 11 as the preacher who said he wanted to burn copies of the Qu'ran plans a march in New York City.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited South America on a whirlwind trade tour. The trip boosted trade with Brazil, ushered in the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement that has been widely criticized for ignoring Colombian and corporate human rights violations, and struck a free trade deal with Honduras. Harper was met by protest in Honduras, as well as at home in Canada, by community groups who argued the trade deal would deepen poverty, worsen human rights and labour violations, and increase corporate impunity, all of which have accelerated since the 2009 military coup that they say Canada tacitly supported.

The Washington Times – not the satirical Onion news outlet – reported that Harper was accused of locking himself in the bathroom after not getting his way during trade negotiations in Brazil.

Frederiction anti-fracking protest

June in Review, Part I

Martin Lukacs — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:29:56 +0000

Postal workers locked out, First Nations housing cut out, federal budget called out

In its June 6, 2011, federal budget the Conservative government pledged to cut the public service by a third. Later that week, as the Conservatives met for their national policy convention, hundreds took to the streets of Ottawa to protest the new Harper majority government.

Having failed to settle the ongoing strike with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Canada Post locked out the entire workforce, though the union had been rotating strikes that had not seriously impacted mail delivery. "I see it as a manoeuvre on the part of the corporation to try and get the government to legislate us back to work and legislate some type of unfavourable collective agreement on to us, as opposed to allowing the free and collective bargaining process to work itself out," said Gerry Deveau, CUPW national director for Ontario.

Air Canada's customer service employees voted by a landslide to engage in strike action as a last resort after frustrations mounted with increasing employment insecurity and the company's refusal to remove demands for major concessions to the existing pension plan.

The struggle to raise minimum wages made gains in BC, but not for those who serve alcohol. Minimum wage in BC will rise from $8.00 an hour to $8.75, but workers who serve alcohol, because it is assumed they receive tips, will not benefit from the increase.

OpenMedia.ca, which advocates for accessible and diverse media in Canada, published a report criticizing the nation's largest telecommunications companies for pushing policy changes that would allow them to structure fees and speeds and limit online access to all but the wealthiest customers.

The UN declared internet access a human right. A report released earlier this month calls the internet one of the strongest tools for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information and organizing direct action. The number of internet users worldwide is currently over 2 billion.

Residents of Moncton, NB, successfully rallied around the Maeng family, ordered by Citizen and Immigration Canada to leave Canada within a month, after declaring the family's 15-year-old autistic and epileptic son's care was too expensive. Thanks to community support the family, originally from South Korea, has been granted a three-year stay and is applying for permanent residency.

Canada's prostitution laws were debated in the Ontario Court of Appeal, as the federal government challenged a recent provincial court decision that found anti-prostitution provisions in the Criminal Code violate sex workers’ constitutional right to security by denying them an opportunity to seek options for safely conducting their business. In court, the five-judge panel seemed skeptical about the government’s argument that sex workers are not being placed at risk by provisions that make it illegal for them to hire drivers or bodyguards, or work in brothels. "Isn’t it sort of a matter of common sense that if you take away the protection, there is going to be some risk?" one justice asked.

The Manitoba government issued a study of the causes and consequences of current flooding, and how to deal with excess moisture in agricultural land, but several frustrated farmers feel it is too little, too late.

Montreal's largest no-kill animal shelter appealed for help from the public as it was forced out of its lease after a 33 per cent rent increase. The shelter's president, Barbara Lisbona, has refused to euthanize the animals and is instead seeking a new home for the Animal Rescue Network.

A Conseil Regional de l'Environnement de Montreal public space specialist recommended modifying zoning designation to prevent the destruction of Montreal's Faubourg St. Laurent community garden.

Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario called for an overhaul of the province's foster care system, as a report found that 40 to 60 per cent of foster kids end up homeless.

The auditor general, in her last report before retirement, pointed to the dramatically substandard quality of life for First Nations people. She found living conditions have "deteriorated" since she took office 10 years ago.

Ottawa announced a Joint Action Plan with the Assembly of First Nations to herald a "new phase" in its relationship with First Nations, with action promised on education, job creation, and improved governance.

Member of Parliament Carolyn Bennett revealed in the House of Commons that the 2011-12 Conservative budget cuts $127 million from housing on First Nation reserves.

Access-to-information documents revealed the Harper government has been spying on First Nations communities taking concerted political action to promote their rights since 2006.

Twenty-four hours after disrupting traffic on Route 138 in northern Quebec, the Innus of Pessamite secured a meeting with Quebec Premier Jean Charest and the ministers tasked with managing Hydro Quebec about the province's Plan Nord, a multi-billion dollar plan to develop, harvest and extract natural resources north of the 49th parallel. Quebec environmental groups have also denounced the plan, saying that it does little to consult with Indigenous groups or plan for the impacts of such large-scale development.

The Syrian military killed 34 protesters, bringing the death toll during popular uprisings in that country to 1,000. In Montreal, hundreds rallied on June 11 as part of an international day of action in solidarity with the ongoing democracy protests.

The Quebec government refused to grant child assistance benefits to Abousfian Abdelrazik because his name remains on the UN 1267 blacklist, despite a lack of incriminating evidence. A delegation of union, community, faith-based and solidarity organizers will travel to the United Nations in New York to press the Chair of the 1267 UN Committee to de-list Abdelrazik.

The Canadian government publicly stated it would not adopt any emissions reduction targets under a proposed extension to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. A federal report showed that in 2009 the Canadian government’s attempts at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions resulted in a total reduction of four mega-tonnes or just over 0.5 per cent.

Despite public pressure, the provincial crown corporation Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) pursued plans to send local business representatives to Israel on a trade mission. The mission would seek partnerships between key industry sectors such as security and defense.

In response to NSBI's initiative, Halifax resident Miles Howe registered his own export company, Peaceful Waters Trading Company, and collected local goods from Halifax small business people who expressed their wish to do business with Gazan small businesses. As owner of Peaceful Waters, Howe attended NSBI's workshop, and announced his plan to facilitate trade with Gaza in defiance of Israel's blockade of the country, by bringing goods aboard the Tahrir, a Canadian boat that will sail to Gaza later this month.

The government of New Brunswick amended provincial forestry laws to state that the government "shall compensate" companies for costs incurred due to changes in provincial forestry regulations. Environmentalists criticized the bill, saying it opens the door for private companies to be compensated each time new environmental protections are brought in that reduce logging production.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May remains the only federal MP publicly opposed to a "Mega-Trial" bill that would see groups of accused put on the fast-track to sentencing. The legislation was encouraged and advocated for by NDP justice critic Joe Comartin.

PageCUPW

May in Review, Part II

Tim McSorley — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:44:47 +0000

Great Slave Lake polluted, Pickton intervenors excluded, mining companies refuted

The BC government announced the creation of a civilian-led police oversight office in response to recommendations made by public inquiries into the deaths of Robert Dziekanski and Frank Paul. Dziekanski, a Polish migrant, was tasered at Vancouver International Airport by RCMP officers. Paul succumbed to hypothermia after being dumped in an alley by Vancouver police officers.

After a recent slew of violent or sudden deaths in BC prisons, the BC Civil Liberties Association released a statement calling for more inquests into correctional facility deaths. Since 1999, 144 deaths—and only 13 inquests—have occurred in BC provincial and federal institutions.

The BC provincial government rejected funding for legal representation for all but one of the 13 groups that Pickton commission head Wally Oppal recommended receive financial support. The province will fund legal costs for the families of victims killed by William Pickton, but not sex worker, Aboriginal or Downtown East Side Vancouver residents' groups.

Canada Post rejected the Canadian Union of Postal Workers' final offer. While the union announced it is preparing to strike as of Thursday at midnight, it said it is willing to negotiate up to the final minute. “After seven months of negotiations, Canada Post continues to demand major concessions, including unsafe work methods, a 22 per cent wage reduction for new hires and the elimination of a sick leave plan that members have had for over 40 years," said CUPW National President Denis Lemelin in a statement.

Paper Excellence Canada Holdings Corporation purchased its fifth paper mill in Canada in as many years. Paper Excellence is a shell company of global pulp and paper giant Asia Pulp Paper, which has been accused of many environmental crimes, including illegally logging a national park in Cambodia.

A naturally-forming ice dam caused water to stream through a gold mine tailings pond in the Northwest Territories. The toxic overflow leaked back into a water system that feeds Great Slave Lake, which has been heavily polluted from the mining industry expanding along its shores.

Dow AgroSciences dropped its complaint to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) challenging Quebec's ban of pesticide 2,4-D, which four other provinces have banned for aesthetic uses. Dow had claimed the policy violated NAFTA because it constituted a barrier to trade.

Some 200 people marched for Status for All in Montreal, calling for an end to deportations, detentions and punitive measures against migrants. Approximately 50,000 undocumented people live in Quebec.

Mining justice advocates introduced a shareholder's resolution at Vancouver-based Goldcorp's AGM which would suspend operations at the company's Marlin gold mine in Guatemala. Goldcorp advised shreholders to vote against the resolution, which was supported by 36 human rights organizations in Europe. Six per cent of Goldcorp's shareholders voted for the resolution. Some critical shareholders were prevented from entering the meeting. Two hundred people, including affected people from Papua New Guinea, Honduras and Guatemala, protested the company's alleged human rights and environmental abuses outside the AGM in Vancouver.

While protesters rallied outside, delegates from Wixarika in Mexico addressed shareholders at First Majestic Silver's AGM in Vancouver. The company plans to build a silver mine in San Luis Potosi, territory sacred to the Wixarika people.

Members of the Algonquin of Barriere Lake voiced opposition to mining on their territory at the annual general meeting of Cartier Resources, Inc. Cartier's copper mine is slated to operate on unceded Algonquin land covered by a trilateral agreement which does not permit mining exploitation.

The Mishkeegogamang First Nation launched a historic legal challenge in an Ontario court. The First Nation is suing both the federal and provincial governments for upwards of $1 billion over multiple violations of James Bay Treaty No. 9, signed in 1905. Violations include the forced relocation and the flooding of treaty lands for hydro power development. The treaty covers over 350,000 square kilometres of territory around James Bay.

The NDP stated that the Ontario Liberal government is delaying an inquest into the deaths of seven First Nations students in Thunder Bay after questions were raised by their families about the lack of Aboriginal representation on the inquest's jury. Since 2009, when the inquest was supposed to begin, two more students have died: Kyle Morrisseau, 17, and Jordan Wabasse, 15.

A Toronto city councilor abandoned his motion demanding a written commitment from Pride Toronto to prevent Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) from participating in this year's Pride Parade, saying he was satisfied with a commitment from one of the march's co-chairs to eject unregistered QuAIA members from participating. QuAIA will not march this year.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford asked the courts to halt a full audit of his campaign funding, as ordered by a compliance audit committee in response to questions about Ford’s family company paying more than $77,000 in early campaign expenses.

Byron Sonne, the last person to remain in jail on G20-related charges, was released on bail after 11 months behind bars.

The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) continued to provide US intelligence agencies with the names of Canadians and foreign nationals in Canada they suspect of having ties to terrorism-related activities and groups. The names often end up on US watch-lists and no-fly lists, blocking those people from entering or flying over the United States. According to US diplomatic cables newly released by Wikileaks, in some cases, CSIS has no concrete proof of its allegations.

In a defense department briefing, the Canadian Military revealed that Canadian fighter jets have dropped 240 bombs over Libya in 324 flights.

Well-known British peace activist and former Guatanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg was prevented from boarding his direct flight from England to Toronto because of the chance the plane could, in an emergency, be diverted to the United States. Begg, who was released after five years at Guatanamo without being charged with a crime, was slated to speak at a conference on Islamophobia in Toronto and in other Canadian cities. Begg routinely travels in Europe, Africa and Asia for speaking engagements and has met with several high-ranking British officials, but remains on a US no-fly list.

Germany announced plans to shut down all nuclear reactors by 2022, a move prompted by mass nationwide protests against nuclear power.

Musician Carlos Santana was booed in Atlanta at Major League Baseball's annual Civil Rights Game after speaking out against a new Georgia law. HR 87, which was modeled after Arizona's controversial SB 1070, gives state and local police federal powers to demand immigration papers from people they suspect to be undocumented, and to jail those who do not provide papers on request.

Peabody Energy threatened to sue the Yes Men for unfairly singling it out as the only coal company ruining children's health. The satirical group created a parody company website, Coal Cares™, offering free novelty inhalers to families living near coal plants. Peabody Energy didn't issue a cease and desist notice, but a letter complaining that while they are in fact the largest coal company, they aren't the only one causing asthmatic attacks in children.

Metalcore puppets

Status for All march 2011

May in Review, Part I

Martin Lukacs — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:36:43 +0000

Plan Nord criticized, Insite scrutinized, Conservatives' Afghanistan lies

Quebec Premier Jean Charest unveiled the $80 billion, 25-year Plan Nord (Northern Plan), which will see the government invest in transportation infrastructure, hydro projects, and mines and forestry on Indigenous peoples' traditional territories in northern Quebec. Environmental groups criticized the plan for lacking a serious sustainable planning component. Though it has the backing of some First Nations, Grand Chief Ghislain Picard of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador denounced the plan for ignoring constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights, and for inadequately consulting First Nations.

A report produced by the Workers' Action Centre showed that low-wage workers in Ontario in precarious industries like cleaning, hospitality, retail and construction are victims of "wage theft" or suffer other employment violations. One in three is owed wages or was fired without termination pay or notice.

Toronto city and park officials agreed to work with the Taiaiako’n Historical Preservation Society to restore Snake Mound in the High Park area. The restoration society has maintained that a section of High Park currently used by BMX bikers is a 1,000-year-old Iroquois burial ground.

Twenty-eight First Nations in five different provinces were badly impacted by flooding in recent months, especially in Manitoba. More than 1,000 First Nations people were evacuated from their homes.

Cold Lake First Nation in northern Alberta was granted an interim injunction by a provincial court to stop the Alberta government from expanding camping grounds on a site in their traditional territory which includes burial sites and other areas of cultural significance. Community members erected a blockade earlier in the week, after the Alberta government restarted the expansion, previously halted in 2006 when 4,000-year-old artifacts were found on-site.

The largest oil spill in Alberta since 1975 leaked 28,000 barrels of crude onto the traditional territory of the Lubicon Cree, a few kilometres from their community, making many residents sick. Another smaller spill occurred in the Northwest Territories along an Enbridge pipeline.

At Enbridge's annual general meeting in Calgary, the Yinka Dene Alliance and other Indigenous organizations protested the company's plans to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta to the West Coast. Corporate backers of the project are divided in their approach: some want to push ahead in the face of massive and co-ordinated First Nations opposition while others recognize that Aboriginal land rights on unceded land throughout British Columbia are an obstacle to be addressed through negotiation.

As part of a province-wide campaign to ban hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in New Brunswick, two dozen people protested SWN Resources' open house in Doaktown. SWN has licenses to search for oil and gas over 2.5 million acres in the province, and plans to frack for natural gas.

Nearly 12,000 Saskatchewan teachers staged a one-day strike for the first time in the province's history, after nearly a year of failed negotiations with the ruling conservative Saskatchewan Party. Ninety-five per cent of teachers voted in favor of job action against low wages: teachers with a four-year degree who are starting work in Saskatchewan earn $7,560 per year less than teachers in the rest of western Canada.

At least 1,500 health-care professionals, from social workers to emergency medical technicians, went on strike in Saskatchewan. Workers all over the province walked off the job after over two years without a contract.

The United Food and Commercial Workers accused the Mexican government of union-busting among workers brought into Canada under the federal temporary worker programs. The union revealed leaked documents that suggest the Mexican consulate prevented Mexican workers who were union supporters from returning to work in British Columbia.

A court injunction forced an end to the South Fraser Protection Camp, set up to block the development of the Gateway Project, a mega-highway expansion in greater Vancouver that critics say will harm air quality, hasten climate change, destroy Indigenous sites and do nothing to reduce traffic congestion. Organizers promised to continue actions to oppose the development.

Housing rights activists in Vancouver launched a campaign to re-open recently closed shelters and pressure all levels of government to provide more funding for affordable housing. On May 2, the municipal government used a new city bylaw forbidding the construction of "structures used for political expression" without permit to dismantle a tent city that had been erected to draw attention to housing needs, including the shuttering of the last of four Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT) shelters.

The Supreme Court of Canada began hearing arguments about the continued operation of Insite, the safe injection site in Vancouver. Despite the Supreme Court of British Columbia's decision that the harm reduction centre should stay open, the federal government has appealed the ruling, claiming Insite violates drug laws. The respondents, which include the Vancouver Network of Drug Users (VANDU), the BC provincial government and the Portland Hotel Society, which runs Insite, argue that drug laws interfere with peoples' rights to life-saving healthcare.

Wikileak cables revealed Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that NATO's secretary general should keep the alliance out of the Arctic or risk growing tensions with Russia. But another US cable argued Harper's rhetoric on Arctic sovereignty was for domestic political ends and would not be followed up by action, and that the Canadian government could do little to assert its interests in the Arctic without US assistance.

According to another leaked US diplomatic cable, Prime Minister Stephen Harper secretly promised NATO in January 2010 that Canada would consider staying in Afghanistan to conduct army training. Despite the secret pledge, the Conservative government maintained throughout 2010 that the combat mission would end and troops were coming home. It announced the mission extension in November, surprising opposition parties and the public.

Harper continued to be mute about the future of Canada's role in the bombing of Libya, as NATO begins to eye an attack on Tripoli despite disunity in the military alliance. Some European countries consider attacks on Colonel Gadhafi's Tripoli compounds to be "unacceptably close to assassination." Canada's participation is approaching the scale of its bombings in Kosovo in the 1990s, trailing only Britain, France and the United States in number of fighter jet sorties.

Five senior Nova Scotian freelance journalists refused to sign a contract with the Chronicle Herald that would grant the Herald exclusive, worldwide and perpetual rights to their work, with no additional compensation. The Herald’s deal “kills syndication writers,” said Chris Benjamin, one of the journalists out of a contract. “I repackage stuff all the time and sell it to other publications...that's the only way I can make money as a journalist.”

Twenty-one out of 22 daily newspapers from the ten largest newspaper groups in Canada endorsed Stephen Harper for prime minister in the 2011 federal elections. On May 4, Harper won a majority government.

Journalists in Cabanas, El Salvador, received a wave of death threats via text-messages and written notes. The Radio Victoria journalists have been involved in local opposition to Pacific Rim, a Canadian mining company that hopes to build a gold mine in the region. This is the same struggle in which Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera and Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos were murdered.

Philosopher and "deep green" environmentalist David Orton died in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Orton was noted for a contribution to deep ecology called "left biocentrism," an environmental ethic that opposes capitalism, economic growth and consumerism.

The Daily Show with John Stewart reported how Asbestos, Quebec, continues to export its name-sake mineral to many countries, including India, while the mineral is banned at home. While asbestos (which the show defined as "slow, hacking death") causes an estimated 100,000 deaths a year, one city official claimed Indians are unaffected by the material. "Maybe they are used to pollution...like antibiotics. They have natural antibiotics," he said.

Stop Perimetre Road

April in Review, Part I

Tim McSorley — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:56:58 +0000

Out against war, oil patch uproar, 10,000 vs. Ford

Hundreds of people marched in anti-war demonstrations across Canada on April 7, including in Halifax, Montreal and Toronto. Participants spoke out against Canada's involvement in bombing Libya and the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

People protested in Halifax and more than 100 other cities around the world on April 12 to mark the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. Halifax protesters called on the Canadian government to re-direct money from the military to social spending on health care, education and housing initiatives.

Embassy magazine reported that military officials have observed little attention being paid to Canada's central role in the international military intervention in Libya, including that Canada has the highest commitment of military personnel—531—of any middle-sized country, and that a Canadian general is running the operation.

Despite a three-year-old uranium mining ban in the Nunatsiavut region of northern Labrador, mining companies continued to explore and push for a reversal of the moratorium, which is scheduled for review this year.

One hundred fifty people turned out for the first of a series of public forums convened by the Government of Nunavut to review the region's uranium policy.

Oil company Enbridge's CEO denounced opposition to the company's planned Northern Gateway Pipeline as a "coalition of hard-line activists and their political allies." The pipeline would deliver oil from the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast and is being opposed by a coalition of 61 First Nations and Inuit communities along the pipeline route. The CEO also said that he expects the federal Liberals, if elected, to renege on their election promise to ban oil tankers off the coast of BC.

A groups of US mayors called on Canadians to make "dirty oil" part of the election debate, and the New York Times ran an editorial calling on the US government to reject the permits needed for Enbridge to construct its Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude from the tar sands to US refineries.

The Alberta government introduced a draft proposal to reclaim two million hectares of land from tar sands development for conservation. Oil companies have declared they will lobby heavily against the reclamation of any of their leased lands, but industry observers say the proposals will have little impact on tar sands production, since the government is only targetting the least productive land in the area.

Allies of the Forest Action Network, known as "free miners," bought up the mining rights on the properties owned by luxury house developer Ender Ilkay along the Juan de Fuca trail on Vancouver Island. Ilkay wants to build high-priced housing along the trail next to a provincial park, and has threatened to build a gravel quarry if his permit is not approved. The free miners say any mining will be impossible, now that he has lost the sub-soil rights on his property.

Members of the Lake St Martin First Nation 225 kilometres north of Manitoba marched through Winnipeg and into local offices of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The 60 participants denounced living conditions in their community, saying that flooding from a nearby dam had caused damage to housing and mold problems.

Residents of Vancouver's Chinatown and Downtown East Side took over the city council chambers with a musical protest to highlight concerns over plans to build high-rise condos in the two neighbourhoods. The meeting was the second in a series of consultations on height limits on new Vancouver developments.

Dozens of protesters in Quebec occupied the campaign offices of outgoing Conservative MP Christian Paradis in Thetford Mines, and more than 100 others protested outside the offices of outgoing minister of foreign affairs Lawrence Cannon in Gatineau. The protesters, organized by housing rights group FRAPRU, called for more money to be invested in housing, saying the cost of one F-35 fighter jet would equal 6,400 units of social housing.

A week after a vigil to mark the birthday of Fredy Villanueva, who was shot and killed by Montreal police on August 8, 2008, deportation proceedings began against his brother, Dany Villanueva. Dany, a permanent resident of Canada, faces deportation to Honduras over a robbery and gun possession charge from 2006. Several dozen Montrealers held a rally outside the hearings.

Outgoing immigration minister Jason Kenney was denounced for his statement that it isn't up to politicians to decide who does or does not get deported. In fact, deportation requests from immigration agents are filed directly with the minister of public security.

More than 100 University of Toronto students held a raucous protest denouncing controversial mining magnate Peter Munk's $35 million donation to the school. Spurred on by speeches by professor Noam Chomsky and journalist Linda McQuaig, the students called on the university to reverse course on the corporatization of education.

A book commemorating Canada's longest running co-operative in Canada was released in Sussex, NB. The Sussex and Studholm Agricultural Society #21 turned 170 this year; its success is credited to "generations of farmers who have worked collectively for all those years to help each other, their businesses, and their community."

A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives concluded that corporate tax cuts over the past decade did not in fact lead to job creation, a common argument for reducing business taxes. For the 198 corporations studied, profits rose 50 per cent and taxes dropped 20 per cent from 2000 to 2009. The number of jobs created by these companies, though, rose by only five per cent from 2005 to 2010.

More than 10,000 people turned out for the Rally for Respect in Toronto, calling on the municipal government to reverse course on Mayor Rob Ford's push to privatize services, freeze wages and consolidate power in city hall.

SlutWalks were held in Toronto, London and Ottawa. The rallies denounced statements by a Toronto police officer that how a woman dresses influences whether or not she is raped or sexually assaulted.

A proposed Vancouver city bylaw that would severely restrict the use of structures during protests, including shelters and tents, was rejected by Mayor Gregor Robertson and sent back to committee for revision. The bylaw was meant to replace a 2006 bylaw, struck down by BC courts, that was implemented in response to complaints from the Chinese consulate about a Falun Gong protest tent in place since 2001. The proposed amendments would have, among other things, barred any protest structures from residential areas and charged deposits for a permit.

A leaked draft of the Auditor General's report on G8 and G20 spending criticized the Conservatives for misleading parliament on spending for the summits. The final report was meant to be released in early April, but has been postponed until after the elections. Many people are now calling for the early release of the final report, but the Auditor General has said she can only legally release the report to a sitting parliament.

No to Dany's deportation

Fighting the height in Chinatown

March in Review, Part II

Tim McSorley — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:38:13 +0000

Nuclear plants decried, Inquiry expansion denied, Conservative clouds in the sky

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) announced plans to take steps to terminate the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The CBFA is a controversial agreement made in secret between environmental NGO's and the logging industry, which, according to NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy, "violates the Aboriginal and Treaty rights of the people of NAN, as well as their long-term social and economic interests.”

Despite $1.25 billion spent over four years by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on "water and waste water infrastructure", documents obtained from Health Canada revealed that one in five First Nations communities still lack safe drinking water.

The throat swab of a sick seven-year-old in Dartmouth came back positive for mould and asbestos, which she'd been inhaling at school.

Nunavut's government authorized raising power rates by 19 per cent, as the power utility Qulliq Energy Corp faces a $13 million shortfall.

The National Council of Canadian Tamils have called on Stephen Harper to remove an election advertisement which insinuates that the MV Sun Sea refugees were "bogus claimants" and "criminals".

Liberal defence critic MP Dominic LeBlanc has announced that thousands of Afghan detainee documents the Conservative government tried to keep classified may be released within the next couple of weeks.

A proposal to rezone 153 hectares of agricultural land for residential and commercial purposes was rejected by the Nova Scotia government. The ruling was a victory for groups like No Farms No Food who were fighting to protect the farmland.

Residents of New Brunswick, Cape Breton and mainland Nova Scotia are fighting hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking' in their communities. Fracking is an industrial process used to explore and extract natural gas. Opponents are concerned about pollution of water sources, among other potential impacts. Quebec and New York state have halted fracking until further studies are completed.

BC's Energy and Mines Minister announced the province was not concerned about the impact of fracking.

US-based Koch Industries officially registered to lobby the Alberta government. The company, run by the Koch brothers, well-known conservative activist millionaires, is known for funding the Tea Party movement and organizations actively denying the existence of climate change. Koch Industries has also funded the Fraser Institute, a conservative Canadian think tank.

Dozens of people protested outside the Bank of Montreal's Annual General Meeting in Vancouver. They called on the bank not to finance Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, which would run from the Alberta tar sands to a port in Kitimat, BC. The rally was organized in support of the Yenka Dene Alliance of northern Indigenous communities, which has called for the pipeline to be cancelled due to its potential impact on hundreds of streams, watersheds and forests on Indigenous territory.

A study by an independent US budget watchdog group revealed that the 65 F-35 fighter jets the Conservative government planned to purchase would cost closer to $115 million each, $40 million more than the $75 million claimed by the Harper government. A former defense industry lobbyist and soldier who pushed for the controversial purchase of F-35 fighter jets is running for the Conservatives in northern Ontario.

A Canadian general was appointed to head NATO's command of the no-fly zone established over Libya, and Canadian CF-18s took part in the enforcement of the zone, bombing Lybian ammunition depots.

Renowned anti-nuclear campaigner Dr. Helen Caldicott spoke out at a nuclear safety hearing against Ontario's plan to expand the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. She warned that any new development will lead to increased radiation and with it increased cancer. Four Greenpeace activists were arrested at the same hearing after chaining themselves to a table; they each wore t-shirts saying 'No Nukes are Safe: Stop Darlington".

A broad-based coalition of activists and politicians called on the Quebec government to immediately close the proviince's Gentilly-2 nuclear facility, instread of undertaking a $2.2 billion refurbishment as proposed by Hydro-Quebec.

The US Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of death row prisoner Troy Davis, who was convicted of killing an off-duty white police officer. There was never any physical evidence that tied Davis to the crime scene, and since the conviction, seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony.

The Montreal Coalition Opposed to Police Brutality denounced police actions at the March 15th rally against police brutality, particularly the kettling and mass arrest of over 250 people. They will be filing an ethics complaint against the police and called for those arrested and harrassed to submit testimonials for potential legal recourse. Most of those arrested were fined $488 for "obstructing traffic on a public byway."

Newfoundland's Justice Minister agreed to review how medication is prescribed in prisons after a citizens' representative reported getting numerous complaints about psychiatric services in the province's jails over a number of years, including inmates being taken off medication they had been taking before being jailed.

A judge has ruled that video footage of Ashley Smith's treatment by prison officials, including forced drug injections, will be barred from the inquest into her death. The family of the inmate, who took her own life in Grand Valley Institution at the age of nineteen while guards stood watching, announced their intention to appeal the ruling.

Vancouver's YWCA and Strathcona Public Library announced that up to 20 units of supportive housing for single mothers and kids will be part of the future Downtown Eastside development of the library. This marked the first victory of the 10 Sites campaign, which is pushing for more affordable housing in the city.

The BC Missing Women Commission was granted a broader mandate allowing it to hear testimony from more witnesses; many were still disappointed that its mandate was not expanded to include an investigation into the Highway of Tears. The Highway of Tears runs between Prince Rupert and Prince George; it has gained the nickname because at least 18 women have gone missing or been murdered along the route.

Montrealers organized a pro-choice rally in response to a 40 day anti-choice vigil being held across the street from the city's Morgentaler Clinic.

A groups of 11 Guatemalan women filed suit for $55 million in damages against Canadian mining company Hudbay Minerals and its subsidiary HMI Nickel. The women say they were gang raped during forced evictions from their homes near the companies' Guatemalan installations.

Facebook removed a page called "Third Palestinian Intifada" from its site, saying that while the page itself called for peaceful protests, comments calling for a violent uprising went against company policy. Over 350,000 people were members of the page before it was taken down.

Former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to the country for the first time since he was ousted in 2004 during a Canada, US and France-backed coup. His return came despite US government opposition, and followed the return of former dictator Baby Doc Duvalier, who returned to Haiti after 25 years in exile earlier this year.

Scientists at Qatar University have invented a $500,000 remote-controlled artificial cloud to provide shade at the 2022 World Cup. Canada is among the countries that have expressed interest in buying several dozen of the clouds to offset the impacts of global warming, according to the scientists.

Site 1

March in Review, Part I

dawn — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:01:57 +0000

Uprisings and repression in Middle East, quake rattles Japan, anti-fracking battles heat up

Libyan dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi continued to deploy the military in an attempt to crush the popular resistance movement. At least 400 Libyans have been killed since the uprising began in mid-February. Canada announced it would send a warship to the region, and froze an estimated $2.3 billion in Libyan assets held in Canada. The Canadian Peace Alliance criticized the announcement, saying “Western military deployment to Libya is a bit like asking the arsonist to put out their own fire.”

The Yemeni government is alleged to have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital, Sanaa, after four consecutive days of demonstrations.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas at demonstrators camped out in the capital's financial district.

In its third attack on civilians in the space of two weeks, NATO gunships in Afghanistan killed at least nine children who were out collecting firewood.

In Kabul, more than 500 Afghanis protested the US role in the ongoing war. "Our aim is to condemn the civilian casualties caused by US troops here in Afghanistan and we don't want the American presence in our country," said a protest organizer.

In Pakistan, 36 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a suicide bombing. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) released a study showing that Canada’s military budget has grown to $22.3 billion for 2010-11, which the CCPA says represents a 54 per cent increase since September 11, 2001. “Canada is the 13th largest military spender in the world and the sixth largest within the 26-member NATO alliance,” said Bill Robinson, who coordinated the study.

People in Madison, Wisconsin, continued to occupy the Capitol building as Republican Senators approved an anti-union bill that has brought thousands of people into the streets.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Japan and created a 10-metre-high tsunami. The quake—one of the largest in the past century—killed at least 1,700 people and forced at least 170,000 people to evacuate areas near nuclear plants. "The Fukushima plant explosion symbolizes the terrible threat to human safety in Japan that is highly vulnerable to earthquakes," said Japanese anti-nuclear activist Hideki Ban.

Activists in 55 cities around the world held events to mark the seventh annual Israeli Apartheid Week. In Montreal, organizers held talks, interactive exhibitions and demonstrations against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

People across Canada took to the streets to mark the 100th annual International Women’s Day, and to make a point that International Women’s Day still matters.

Canada denied entry to Indian activist and environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who was on her way to Calgary to receive an award from the University of Calgary’s Consortium for Peace Studies.

Bradley Manning, the man accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of US State Department documents to Wikileaks, served his 10th month in jail. He publicly spoke about his treatment for the first time, revealing that he was stripped of all of his clothes and kept in solitary confinement without his glasses. "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defence," said State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley, who later resigned over the comment.

Inmates in a prison in Agassiz, BC, entered the final stages in their application to form Canada’s first prisoners union.

An unidentified man was killed by police in Burlington, Ontario, after having been pulled over for erratic driving.

The Mackenzie oil pipeline, which would travel from the Mackenzie Delta to the United States, was granted final approval from the National Energy Board. The $16.2 million pipeline project has been in the works for decades and faces fierce resistance from Indigenous and settler communities throughout the Mackenzie basin.

The government of Quebec passed a moratorium on natural gas fracking. Despite calls from activists across the country, so far no other province has followed suit, although municipalities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia support bans on fracking.

Members of the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) were escorted off the premises of the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada mining conference in Toronto. “We are being told to engage in dialogue, yet there is no genuine interest by these mining personnel to listen to the concerns and respond to the wishes of mining-affected community members on the ground,” said Ivan Baeza, an activist with MISN who was removed from the event.

A protection camp against logging at Slu7kin/Perry Ridge was re-established by the Sinixt people and their supporters near Nelson, BC. The RCMP later obtained an injunction against the protection camp, which is located in the Slocan Valley in the interior of BC.

Mexican telecom tycoon Calos Slim Helu topped Forbes’s list of the world's richest people again this year, with an estimated net worth of $74 billion. Twenty-four Canadians made the list, led by the Thompson family with a net worth is $24 billion. The Thompson family owns 85 per cent of the Globe and Mail and a 40 per cent interest in CTV, among other investments.

Haitian activists organized a demonstration in Port-au-Prince to call for a boycott of March 20 elections and for the return of Jean Bertrand Aristide from exile. “In this election, it is the United Nations and Organization of American States, both acting on Washington’s behalf, who are convoking the people to vote for the candidates whom they have designated,” said Yves Pierre-Louis, an organizer with the Heads Together of Popular Organizations (Tet Kole Oganizasyon Popile).

Friends and comrades of missing Colombian activist and environmentalist Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego, who went missing near the city of Cali on February 17, 2011, called on the public to continue searching for her and on the authorities to investigate her disappearance.

Three hundred migrants in Greece ended a six-week hunger strike after the state agreed to the strikers' key demands, decreasing stringent requirements for residency and work permits.

Demonstration in Libya

IWD march in Montreal

February in Review, Part II

Tim McSorley — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:44:20 +0000

Fishy GM fish, starving eagles, passionate populations

Five more First Nations communities rejected oil company Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway Pipelines, set to transport tar sands oil from nothern Alberta to the BC coast. The newly formed Yinka Dene Alliance, made up of Indigenous communities located along the proposed route for the pipeline, rejected Enbridge's latest financial incentives package, saying "no amount of money" would convince them to agree to the project.

Weaker than usual chum salmon runs on Vancouver Island caused bald eagles to starve, some even falling from the sky from weakness. Hundreds of eagles swarmed local dumps. Others relocated to the eastern side of the island in anticipation of upcoming herring runs.

Councilors in Kings County, Nova Scotia voted six-to-five to re-zone 150 hectares of prime farmland for development, despite opposition due to concerns about food security. The group No Farms No Food organized protests, demanding Agriculture Minister John MacDonell intervene.

Taseko mines announced it is trying again to gain federal approval of its Prosperity Mine project near Williams Lake, BC. The federal government rejected the gold mine earlier this year due to the environmental destruction it will cause; Taseko claims its new proposal will not damage the environment. Local First Nations oppose the project, rejecting the claim that a gold mine can operate without damaging the environment.

Canadian scientists warned that genetically modified fish could have a negative impact on Canadian fish populations. Constraints on regulatory and approval powers at the Department of Oceans and Fisheries mean that it will be difficult to ascertain the full potential impact of GE salmon once they are introduced by AquaBounty Technologies. The GE fish are currently going through regulatory approval for consumption in the US and in Canada.

Emera, Nova Scotia Power's parent company, posted record profits for 2010. The province’s electricity provider made $121.3 million in profit in 2010, up $12 million over 2009. The privatized utility jacked power bills by 5.66 per cent in January.

Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton announced he is no longer calling on the Harper government to cancel its next series of corporate tax cuts.

Housing activists in Vancouver organized a tent city to draw awareness to the lack of affordable housing in the city. Demands included that all unsold units from the Olympic Athletes Village become social housing, that the city acquire 10 new social housing sites per year and an end to the criminalization of the poor. About 200 people took part in the initial tent city at the Athletes Village. After moving locations and then being dispersed by police, 75 activists reconvened at an abandoned retail space; 11 people were arrested after occupying the space for about two hours.

A coalition of BC environmental groups denounced former BC Premier Gordon Campbell's last-minute endorsement of a letter to the federal government calling on the prime minister to nix a bill that would ban oil tanker traffic off most of the coast of BC. The letter, also signed by the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan, raised the ire of the groups, who point to polls showing 80 per cent of Bristich Columbians support the proposal to ban tankers. The federal private member's bill has passed first reading and is now before the Senate.

Plow operators in Prince Edward Island worked 20-hour days in the wake of a series of snowstorms.

Montreal-based engineering giant SNC-Lavalin confirmed its plans to build a prison in Libya.

Utah activist Tim DeChristopher appeared in court to face two felony counts stemming from a fake bid he placed on oil and gas lease parcels. 300 supporters marched in Salt Lake City to protest the prosecution.

Massey Energy's Hughie Elbert Stover, Security Chief for the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, is the first official to be arrested in connection with the explosion which killed 29 miners last year. He has been accused of lying to the FBI and trying to dispose of key documents.

Women and women's organizations in Vancouver spoke out against sexual assault at women's shelters, in particular a series of at least six sexual assaults at the First United Church co-ed shelter in the Downtown East Side. They called for greater funding shelters to reduce overcrowding, increase services and create more social housing.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers launched a five-city protest across Florida to pressure grocery store chains to support their demands for humane working conditions for farmworkers harvesting tomatoes.

New Brunswick's Moosehead Breweries served employees a lockout notice, and ownership walked away from contract negotiations.

Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews affirmed that, despite new expert analyses denouncing the Harper government's prison-expansion project in the face of falling crime rates, the government will be going ahead with the plan.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced plans to cut parent and grandparent visas by more than 25 per cent from 2010 levels next year, a 34 per cent cut from 2009 levels.

More than 100 people packed a Halifax courtroom to support a local family facing deportation to Pakistan. The hearing was successful: the family won the right to have their application to stay in Canada re-reviewed.

Agent Orange, a highly toxic mix of chemicals used in deforestation and infamous for its use during the Vietnam War, was sprayed throughout Ontario forests from the 1950s to 1970s, soaking the area and forestry workers, an investigation by the Toronto Star revealed.

The Law Society, an organization that regulates lawyers, dismissed a complaint in which the Police Association of Ontario accused the Special Investigations Unit, the provincial body that investigates police misconduct, of “destroying public confidence in the criminal justice system” with a “bias against police officers.” A document release revealed that police forces across Ontario ignore recommendations made by the Special Investigations Unit.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Union of Public and General Employees published their joint report on police actions during the G20 protests in Toronto last June. The reports found that police "disregarded the constitutional rights of thousands" and called for a public inquiry to uncover at what level orders were given to conduct mass arrests. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty responded by again refusing to call a public inquiry.

The coroner's inquest into the police shooting of teenage Montrealer Fredy Villanueva ended with testimony from his mother, Lillian Villanueva. "I'm certain that if my boys were white or Quebecois, this tragedy would have never happened...My son is dead because of racial profiling," she said. Fredy was shot and killed when two Montreal police officers stopped him, his brother Dany and friends while playing dice in a park.

Elections Canada laid charges against the Conservative party and key fundraisers for improperly reporting $1.3 million in national campaign advertising during the last election, and "wilfully" exceeding campaign spending limits.

The International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank, announced its intention to invest $300 million in the next three years in mining companies operating in Africa.

The revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa continued, with demonstrations in Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Western Sahara, and Yemen. In Libya, protest leaders formed a national council in the eastern cities seized from Moammar Gadhafi, and the UN, the US, the UK, the EU and Canada have all frozen Gadhafi's assets in the wake of his continued attack on Libyans.

One hundred thousand people marched in Madison, Wisconsin, to protest Governor Scott Walker's "union-busting" bill that would slash bargaining rights from all public sector workers—except police and firefighters. Hundreds of people occupied Madison's State Capitol during the bill's debate, which was passed amid chants of "shame, shame" from democratic House representatives. Police and firefighters joined the protest and the 11-day camp-out, declaring solidarity with protesters, who defied Walker's orders to leave. Democratic senators fled to Illinois to deny quorum to Republicans trying to push the bill through Senate. Walker was caught on tape saying he had "thought about" planting "troublemakers" among protesters to incite violence, which has been non-existent going into the third week of protest.

Hundreds across Canada rallied in support of ongoing popular uprisings in the Middle East, including in Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax and Montreal.

Health care practitioners and community organizers in Quebec, including No One is Illegal Montreal, called on pharmacists to resume providing perscription drugs under the Interim Federal Health Program. A dispute between Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Association of Quebec Pharmacy Owners left thousands of refugee claimants and others normally covered by the program without access to medication. While the dispute was technically resolved at the end of January, reports of refugee claimants being denied access persisted well into February.

More than 100 people rallied against a ruling by a Winnipeg judge, who gave a man convicted of rape a conditional sentence without jail time because he found that the rape victim and her friend had made it "publicly known that they wanted to party," were dressed in tube tops and high heels and were wearing "plenty of make-up." "If I decide that I want to be engaged in certain sexual behaviour with somebody I can do that and I'm allowed to say, 'Stop, I don't want to do it any more.' That needs to be respected," said one woman at the rally. The judge's comments are being reviewed by the Canadian Judicial Council.

In Guatemala, residents near Canadian mining company GoldCorp's Marlin Mine blockaded the entrance to the site, calling on the goverment to immediately implement a ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the mine be suspended. Protest organizers were attacked and beaten by supporters of the mine.

The US House of Representatives introduced several major anti-abortion bills and voted to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, a reproductive health organization that provides three million patients per year in the US with family planning, contraception and abortion services. Related initiatives have been launched in many states, including a bill that would outlaw abortions after the first heartbeat can be medically detected in Ohio (for which an unborn child is set to "testify" via ultrasound), legislation to criminalize miscarriages in Georgia and bills in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota that would legalize killing abortion providers.

HalifaxLibya

Tent City

February in Review, Part 1

Tim McSorley — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:45:33 +0000

Streets and squares taken back, G20 cops given flack

Two thousand people marched through Vancouver's Downtown East Side in the 20th annual Women's Memorial March. The annual Valentine's Day march commemorates the 3,000 women who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the 1970s. Hundreds more people took part in solidarity marches across the country, including in Montreal and Ottawa.

Vancouver police warned the public about Martin Tremblay and released a photo of the man, who was sentenced to 11 months in prison on drug charges. Tremblay was convicted in 2003 of five counts of sexual assault, and was released less than a year later. It is widely believed that he is responsible for the sexual assault and murder of at least two Aboriginal teenage girls, leading to rallies in support of keeping him in jail. Several young girls and neighbourhood residents of Vancouver's Downtown East Side have publicly come forth, denouncing Tremblay for drugging and sexually assaulting them since his previous release from jail.

Nova Scotia's NDP government announced it would cut its school board costs by two per cent and university funding by four per cent, and asked hospital administrators to work through a planning exercise to cut health care costs.

Students took the streets of Halifax, Wolfville and Pointe de l'Église to protest rising tuition fees in Nova Scotia. The average student debt after graduating from an undergraduate program in the province is $31,000.

Of the 73 recommended changes to the Northwest Territories' (NWT) Child and Family Services Act to come out of public hearings, only 22 were accepted by the NWT Health and Social Services Department. Most of the suggested changes concerned the child protection system, and included creating child and family services committees in every community, better addictions services for parents and assisting extended family in keeping children at home.

A BC addictions counselor criticized the Yukon government's addictions services for young people as having no intensive or long-term programs.

In a rally in support of affordable housing in Vancouver, 150 people snake-marched from the site of last year's Olympic Tent Village to last year's unprofitable Olympic Athletes Village, crashing an Olympics anniversary celebration. The rally was in solidarity with the Ten Sites Campaign, a call to the City of Vancouver to identify 10 affordable housing sites before the next municipal election, and in support of Vancouver's upcoming tent village.

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games had negative effects on young people in Vancouver, according to an ongoing study by a Carleton University researcher. Her findings report that marginalized youth are further pushed to away from safe and supportive environments by police and host cities, both before and during Olympic Games.

Activists stormed a budget meeting at Toronto City Hall to protest proposed cuts to social services and community programs. Two people were arrested. Mayor Rob Ford's brother was caught on tape telling protesters to "get a job."

Thousands marched in Hamilton in solidarity with the 900 steelworkers who have been locked out by US Steel, and 9,000 pensioners whose incomes are in jeopardy.

A medical audit into the health impact of silica dust at the Iron Ore Company of Canada facilities in western Labrador was delayed after union leaders voiced concerns about a possible conflict of interest for the company selected to do the study. The company provides employee assistance program services to Wabush Mines.

The Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons revised its guidelines to require doctors who are anti-abortion to inform their patients of their position from the outset, and provide a referral to another physician.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority refused to release the internal review of the death of Brian Sinclair, a homeless man who died after waiting 34 hours for care in a hospital emergency room. Sinclair's family was refused access to hospital videotapes of the death.

New Brunswick's Finance Minister Blaine Higgs announced his government is considering a five per cent salary cut for civil servants.

Quebec government lawyers went on strike, demanding a 40 per cent pay increase. Quebec prosecutors' salaries top out at $102,000 per year, making them the lowest paid in Canada.

Stephen Harper urged Barack Obama to approve a $7 billion pipeline which would run from Hardisty, Alberta to the Gulf Coast of Texas, and which would double the amount of tar sands crude exported to refineries in the United States.

The Canadian Diabetes Association predicted that one in four Manitobans will be living with either diabetes or prediabetes by 2020.

Saskatchewan's Justice Ministry announced that charges against SaskEnergy will not be pursued in relation to a gas explosion that killed two men in Nipawin in 2008. Charges will go ahead against the backhoe driver who pierced a gas line that caused the explosion.

Shell Canada is under investigation after workers in Peace River found an oil tank venting sour gas, after residents 40 kilometres northeast of the town reported smelling rotten egg.

Renowned anti-nuclear activist and physician Dr. Helen Caldicott was banned from Port Hope after advocating the evacuation of the citizens due to radioactive waste.

The Forest Practices Board called on foresters and land managers to get "creative" about conserving exceptional trees after logging company Teal-Jones cut down trees in Port Renfrew, BC, which were between 500 and 1,000 years old.

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) denied Mohamed Harkat's request to attend a dinner held in his honour at a Montreal conference on national security, because it would violate his condition of non-association. Harkat has spent eight years fighting deportation based on secret accusations.

A federal study revealed that the CBSA spent more than $45 million on jailing refugees in 2008-09.

In a bid to serve his sentence in Canada, Omar Khadr sent a prisoner transfer application to the Canadian government.

The Quebec National Assembly voted unanimously to ban the kirpan, an unsharpened ceremonial dagger worn by Sikhs, from the Assembly. In January 2011, four Sikhs were turned away from the provincial legislature because they were wearing kirpans.

The lawyer for Montreal police officer Jean-loup Lapointe, who shot and killed unarmed teenager Fredy Villanueva in 2008, argued that racial profiling, and how police killings are investigated, should not be considered in the ongoing inquest into the young man's death.

A Prince Edward Island RCMP officer received a suspended sentence and remains on desk duty after being charged with assault for the second time. The RCMP's internal investigation continues, but the results, as per RCMP policy, will not be released to the public.

An Edmonton police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old in a restaurant parking lot when investigating an armed robbery. The victim allegedly ran at the officer with a bat and knife. The officer fired three times.

A federal court stayed Montreal's Victor Morales' deportation order. Morales has lived in Montreal for 32 years, is the father of three Canadian kids and is the primary caregiver for his terminally ill Canadian mother.

Members of the Toronto Police Board were shocked to find out the Toronto Police Department (TPD) unilaterally decided to keep Long Range Acoustical Devices, commonly known as sounds cannons, which were acquired for use during the June 2010 G20 meetings. Board members expected that Board approval would be needed for the police department to keep the controversial machines.

Toronto Police Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani was charged with assault for a second time in relation to his conduct during the G20 protests. Originally charged in December for assaulting Adam Nobody, he is now accused of assaulting a Toronto blogger.

The two lawyers for Montrealer Natalie Gray, who was shot twice with rubber bullets at the G20 protests leaving considerable bruising on her elbow and sternum, called for a criminal inquiry into her arrest. Gray's charges were dropped after the arrest. Photographic evidence has identified three officers involved in her arrest, but the TPD has not revealed their names.

Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt after 18 straight days of protest, during which two million Egyptians took to the streets across the country in opposition to Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship. Mubarak was replaced by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. While the military called for all protests to end and for Tahrir Square—the epicentre of the protests—to be cleared, many protesters vowed to continue until Mubarak's entire cabinet is removed and the 30-year-old emergency measures laws used by Muabarak to stay in power are rescinded.

The impact of Mubarak's resignation reverberated across the Middle East and North Africa, with thousands taking to the streets in Yemen , Algeria, Bahrain and Iran, calling for open and democratic elections.

Thousands of people in Canada held rallies across the country in support of the Egyptian pro-democracy movement in the lead-up to Mubarak's resignation and also participated in celebrations following his ouster.

World food prices hit an all time high in January 2011. The Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index hit 231, the highest since the previous peak of 224.1 in June 2008. Extreme weather conditions, including droughts and heavy rains, are blamed for causing supply shortages and the rise in prices. Nine hundred twenty-five million people around the world are either malnourished or underfed—55 million more people than in 2008. Food shortages are also blamed for civil unrest in places such as Tunisia and Egypt.

Prince Edward Island's potato exports grew 90 per cent this year, due to a drought in Russia and poor weather conditions in Idaho.

Former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide was granted a diplomatic passport by the Haitian government, allowing him to return to the country at any time, although he has not said when he plans on returning. Aristide has been in exile in South Africa since he was ousted in 2004 through a coup allegedly organized by the United States, France and Canada.

Fourteen Kentuckians occupied the state governor's office for four days in protest of mountain top removal mining. Upon leaving the office, they joined more than 1,000 protesters outside for the annual "I Love Mountains" march. Author Wendell Berry took part in the occupation. "We came because the land, its forests, and its streams are being destroyed by the surface mining of coal, because the people are suffering intolerable harms to their homes, their health, and their communities," he said.

Memorial march for missing and murdered women

Canadians rally for Egypt

January in Review, Part II

Moira Peters — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:37:54 +0000

Egypt curfew broken, BC salmon smokin', "organic" just a token

"People fight and die for things like that. They go to war for things like that. We are Dene. We are not warriors. We are not pacifists. We are Dene. Being Dene means standing on your own land," said Jonas Antoine of the Liidlii Kue First Nation, at a rally in Yellowknife. Protesters were speaking out against the Northwest Territories government's "devolution" plan, which would transfer land from Canada to the government of the Northwest Territories. Leaders and members from several First Nations compared the negotiations to extinguishment, denouncing both the process and its objective.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched in opposition to the continued rule of Hosni Mubarak, who has been president of that country since 1981. By taking to the streets, protesters defied a curfew and violent repression. More than 100 people have died as a result. The minimum wage in Egypt is currently $30 per month, which is half of the World Bank's official minimum wage for the country.

In Canada, hundreds of people gathered in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to show their support for Egyptian demonstrators.

Mubarak's regime has been a key Middle East ally of the United States and Israel. In an interview with the Montreal Media Co-op, Montreal organizer Mostafa Henaway said that without the curent regime in Egypt, "there would be no siege in Gaza, you wouldn't have support for the occupation of Iraq, and for the other dictatorships in the region." The United States sent $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt in 2011. According to reports in Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Israeli diplomats attempted this week to gather support for Mubarak's regime, arguing that his continued rule is in the interests of western countries.

Egyptians have been demonstrating against the current regime for at least three years. However, the massive scale of demonstrations was attributed to the success of similar protests in Tunisia, where mass mobilizations calling for "work, freedom, bread" ended the brutal 23-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country mid-month. Demonstrations in Tunisia are ongoing, with thousands calling for all members of Ben Ali's government to leave.

Leading Haitian human rights lawyer Mario Joseph and women's rights and education advocate Rea Dol called on the Canadian government to withdraw its support of the November 28, 2010, elections; Joseph slammed the Canadian government for being no friend to Haiti. Both criticized relief agencies that have done little to help Haitians following last year's earthquake, particularly pointing to the massive increase in rape and sexual assault against women in the country over the past year.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned to the Caribbean nation for the first time in 25 years, since his ouster in 1986. He said he returned to help the Haitian people one year after the massive earthquake of January 2010, but others believe he did so to gain access to some $6 million stowed in foreign bank accounts. The Haitian government quickly charged him with embezzlement of public funds. Human rights organizations launched an appeal for him to be charged with crimes against humanity, and undertook fresh investigations of political assassinations and ruthless murders by the Tontons Macoutes secret police during his reign.

Jude Celestin, the presidential candidate backed by Haiti's ruling Unity Party, withdrew his name from the upcoming election run-off, under domestic and international criticism that his second-place finish in the November 28 vote was due to electoral fraud.

In a move towards US-style broadcasting law, the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission proposed relaxing rules on "any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading"—a month and a half before right-leaning Sun TV News is to be launched in Canada.

Stephen Harper spoke of accountability at a UN meeting about the implementation of a $40 billion program for child and maternal health in developing nations, a plan that was widely criticized for excluding access to contraception and family planning. In Canada, Harper has systematically increased gender inequality.

Two "Community Engagement Forums" in BC—in Vancouver's Downtown East Side (DTES) and in Prince George—led up to this year's Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. The process, content and naming of a Commissioner were subject to passionate criticism by activists and family members, who were concerned about mass omissions. The Commission of Inquiry's terms of reference do not explicitly mention the Highway of Tears, nor do they reflect that the majority of missing and murdered women in the province are Indigenous.

KNL Developments moved tree cutting equipment into Beaver Pond—just outside Ottawa—and has begun logging one of the last old-growth forests in the region after receiving city approval to build a housing development on the land. Members of local Algonquin communities have called on the city to halt the development until a comprehensive archaeological assessment can be done. Algonquin Daniel Bernard “Amikwabe” set up a camp on the land to stoke a sacred fire "to denounce the massacre of the wildlife and this sacred forest."

The Sinixt Nation appeared in BC Supreme Court again in late January for the First Nation's legal case against Sunshine Logging Ltd, the provincial Attorney General and the BC Ministry of Forests, concerning the logging of Slu7kin/Perry Ridge in the interior of BC.

American Indian Movement (AIM) activist John Graham was sentenced to life in prison for the 1975 kidnapping and murder of fellow AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash, a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia. "The truth hasn't come out here," Graham, a member of the Champagne First Nation in the Yukon, told Aquash's daughters in court, upon hearing his sentence. Canadian organizations, politicians and unions have written letters of support for Graham, particularly opposing Canada's 2007 extradition of Graham in light of false evidence provided by the FBI to Canada for the 1976 extradition of AIM activist Leonard Peltier. The Aquash investigation remains open.

Students, workers and faculty at the University of Toronto (U of T) came together to form the U of T General Assembly, demanding the university administration stand with them, rather than with corporations, private donors and a provincial government that fail to adequately support higher education.

More than 100 activists and students rallied outside a Simon Fraser University Board of Governors' meeting in downtown Vancouver to protest the university's use of "dirty money" from mining corporation Goldcorp. The board adjourned its meeting early and left the building amid calls from the crowd to listen to their concerns.

A new Canada-US study found that one in 10 post-secondary students recently thought about suicide, and one in four is depressed.

The Nova Scotia Post-Secondary Education Coalition announced the results of a public opinion poll that shows 83 per cent of Nova Scotians want tuition fees reduced. The Nova Scotia government is considering recommendations from former Bank of Montreal Executive Vice-President Tim O’Neill to allow tuition fees to increase, and lift the ceiling on how much debt a student can access from government financial aid. Students are planning a province-wide day of action February 2.

A proposed mink ranch development in Yarmouth, NS, was given the green light, despite the community's concern that mink ranches in the area are contributing to the proliferation of blue-green algae in the lakes.

Agrimarine Holdings Inc completed primary construction of the world's first marine closed-containment salmon farm in Middle Bay, BC.

The BC-based Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture launched its "smoking hot" campaign against "Big Aquaculture" to draw attention to the health and environmental dangers of salmon farming. The campaign uses similar imagery to "smoking kills" campaigns used against Big Tobacco.

In an email to its customers, Whole Foods Market, the largest "natural and organic" market in the world, advocated for "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered (GMO), herbicide-resistant alfalfa. The Organic Consumer's Association called the email "profoundly misleading," representing surrender by the "organic elite" to Monsanto, whose Roundup Ready alfalfa will now be mass-planted with the blessing of Whole Foods, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley, effectively allowing the GMO crop to contaminate products labeled "organic."

In rural BC, unpaid tree-planters from Africa were fed rotten food, left to sleep in shipping containers and subjected to violence and sexual harassment.

Walmart announced plans to open 40 supercentres across Canada.

Members of the Synergy Credit Union in Saskatchewan, concerned about the increase in size of their bank, voted against a merger with two other credit unions.

Two supporters of Bradley Manning, the army private suspected of leaking confidential documents to WikiLeaks, were stopped and held for two hours for traffic violations by military police at Virginia's Quantico Marine Corp. The pair was attempting to visit Manning and deliver a petition with 42,000 signatures that protested Manning's treatment. As a result, Manning missed out on his once-weekly respite from solitary confinement.

An Ottawa man accused of terrorism was served a formal notice of deportation to Algeria, where he faces risk of torture.

Alex Hundert took a plea bargain with the Crown and was released from jail. The community organizer was arrested pre-G20 in Toronto, charged with conspiracy and spent five months in prison, including in solitary confinement.

The Halifax Peace Coalition celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day by picketting outside the Canadian Forces Stadacona Base, protesting Canada's decision to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets. The jets will cost at least $16 billion, and the deal—the largest military procurement in Canadian history—with weapons giant Lockheed Martin guarantees no jobs in Canada.

Two hundred people, many holding babies or pushing strollers, rallied in downtown Halifax to demand better access to midwifery services. Currently, only four midwives are legally employed in the entire province of Nova Scotia.

With the slogan "Fight the Height," housing activists and residents in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside continued to organize against the city's plans to develop condos in the neighbourhood.

According to a study from the Quebec Institue for Public Health, Quebecers over the age of 65 have been committing suicide at an increasing rate since 1981, reaching an all-time high in 2010. Quebec announced it will create a three-year grant of $750,000 to counter the rising rate.

Prairie Artists Against Enbridge delivered a letter to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, protesting Enbridge Pipeline’s sponsorship of the centre's upcoming Prairie Scene Festival, due to the company's "disastrous environmental record."

In a Dutch Parliamentary hearing, Shell was accused of human rights abuses, failing to clean up oil spills and continuing the hazardous practice of flaring gas in Nigeria.

Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously voted to ratify the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, which will see Russia and the US each slash their nuclear arsenals by about 30 per cent.

A mine explosion in northeastern Colombia killed 20 coal miners, injured six and trapped 30 more underground.

Three Indonesian soldiers who tortured two Papuan farmers for three days were found guilty of "insubordination," a much lesser charge than rights groups were advocating.

Philippine rebels killed five police officers, the first major assault since the Philippine government and communist rebels agreed to restart peace talks.

Floods and landslides in Brazil killed 800 people. Four hundred others are missing.

Verizon Communications Inc filed a legal challenge against the new "net neutrality" rules which prohibit providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks.

Have you heard the one about Ben Ali? You haven't heard it? ...So Zine El Abidine Ben Ali goes to buy new boots. As soon as he enters the shop, the Tunisian salesman hands him a pair. “How did you know my size?” asks Ben Ali. The answer: “You’ve stomped on us for 23 years, how can we not?”

Tunisian Kids

smoking salmon

December in Review, Part I

Tim McSorley — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:44:39 +0000

Italian Berlusconi attacked, Chilean "Berlusconi" ahead, coral reefs poisoned and Canada fossil fooled

Canada was at the centre of daily criticism during the UN Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen, receiving four Fossil awards for being a major obstacle to negotiations; being the target of a Yes Men hoax to highlight lack of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and witnessing climate justice protests across Canada, including a banner drop from the Parliament Buildings calling for the tar sands to be shut down, and a brief sit-in during a House of Commons Environment Committee meeting.

In Copenhagen, the Inuit Circumpolar Council called for global action to protect Inuit populations, and scientists announced they are now working with Inuit communities to help research climate changes impacts in the North.

One hundred thousand protesters took to Copenhagen's streets to call for a strong commitment from global leaders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implement climate justice legislation. The nine-kilometre march was peaceful, with the exception of fewer than 15 protesters who threw rocks at windows, which was followed by a mass arrest of nearly 1,000 people. Danish human rights organizations demanded an inquiry into controversial mass preventative arrest tactics, or "kettling," a police trend in Copenhagen this month.

Thousands of people attempted to breach security at the climate negotiations conference centre in Copenhagen. The action coincided with protests within the centre, with the purpose of converting the negotiations into a "People's Assembly." Police used tear gas, dogs and plain-clothed officers to infiltrate and break up the groups of protesters. Hundreds were arrested.

British scientists reported rising CO₂ levels in the air are causing oceans to absorb the molecule, raising the acidity of the water, putting all forms of aquatic life at risk. They warned current targets of stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ at 450 parts per million could prove lethal to coral populations worldwide.

Hondurans continued to protest the contested presidential elections held November 29 which saw conservative Porfirio Lobo elected president. A Canadian delegation that observed the elections denounced Canadian Minister of State for the Americas Peter Kent's statement that "there was a strong turnout for the elections, that they appear to have been run freely and fairly, and that there was no major violence." The delegation reported witnessing low turnout, and violence and oppression against civilians. Regional state coalitions ALBA and MERCOSUR rejected the elections, and ALBA approved economic sanctions against the government of coup-president Roberto Micheletti.

Twelve hundred residents of Sept-Iles, Quebec, marched against uranium exploration taking place just outside of the town and less than 13 kilometres from the local drinking water source. The protest was also in support of 24 doctors who resigned en masse to protest provincial government inaction on the issue.

Plans are moving ahead to build Alberta's first nuclear power plant after the Albertan government decided not to impose a moratorium on nuclear power in the province.

The Israeli government announced a freeze on further construction in illegal settlements in the West Bank, while also allowing settlers to benefit from new funds meant to go to economically deprived areas, which are primarily inhabited by Arab Israelis.

Former Sri Lankan army chief General Sarath Fonseka spoke out against his own government, accusing the defence secretary of having ordered Tamil rebel leaders killed as they tried to surrender during the height of last spring's civil war.

Houston City Controller Annise Parker was elected mayor of the Texas city, making Houston the largest American city to elect an openly gay mayor.

The Federal Court of Canada struck down the security certificate against Hassan Almrei, saying that the federal govenrment had not presented justification for renewing the certificate last year, relying instead on "stale" and "contradictory" evidence. Certificate detainee Mohamed Zeki Mahjoub was released from the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, dubbed "Guantanamo North," for medical care as his health deteriorated due to a hunger strike he began in June. Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan announced a major review of Canadian security certificate laws.

Extradition hearings against Hassan Diab continued in Ottawa. Diab, a University of Ottawa professor, faces deportation to France under allegations of carrying out a bombing there in 1980. French anti-terror laws have been severely criticised for undermining the rights of the accused.

Three hundred people protested the Olympic Torch as it passed through Montreal.

The Crying Room art gallery in Vancouver was forced by the city to remove a mural critical of the Olympics.

Land defenders arrested for occupying the Site 41 dump site in Ontario saw their charges stayed or dropped. Ina Wood, 75, who was hospitalized from a recent stroke, was one of two people whose charges were immediately dropped. She said she was disappointed that others only had their charges stayed.

Residents of Sudbury, Ontario, launched a campaign to clear the name of John Moore, a member of the Serpent River First Nation who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, and who was imprisoned for 10 years for a 1978 murder prosecutors admit he did not commit. He was convicted under a since-repealed law that allowed him to be prosecuted for allegedly knowing a murder may take place.

A new report ranked the economic well-being of Canadians as ninth out of 14 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-opertaion and Development. Norway ranked first, Spain last, and the US thirteenth.

Twenty-two million "lost" emails from the George W. Bush administration were recovered by computer technicians following two lawsuits brought by two government watchdog organizations. The current US government is still searching for missing emails from dozens of days during the Bush administration.

Sebastian Pinera, known as the "Chilean Berlusconi," won the first round of Chile's presidential election. A run-off is scheduled for January 2010. If he wins, Pinera would be the first right-wing president elected since the end of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship 19 years ago.

Three hundred fifty thousand Italians gathered in Rome for "No Berlusconi Day" to call for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's resignation. Berlusconi has had his immunity from prosecution lifted over corruption charges. Days later, the prime minsiter was attacked by a man carrying a metal replica of the Duomo Cathedral, breaking his nose and two front teeth; the arrested attacker has apologized and may be remitted to psychiatric care. A prominent Italian journalist told BBC Newshour, “If we were in America, where madmen carry guns, Berlusconi would be dead. We are in Italy. Madmen carry souvenir replica of the Duomo.”

Copenhagen Protest Dragon

Copenhagen Protest Night