The Dominion - Van Ferrier

Communities Unite Against Canadian Mining Injustices

Tim McSorley — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 04:00:05 +0000

Representatives from communities across Canada and around the world met in Toronto May 7-9, 2010, to discuss the impacts Canadian mining companies are having on their communities.

The delegates plan to meet again in Toronto on June 22 to discuss the establishment of a pan-American network that will unite community and solidarity groups throughout the Americas.

Van Ferrier is a journalist and communications specialist living in Montreal.

Canada's Private Sector Eyes Haiti Reconstruction

Van Ferrier — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:39:23 +0000

Haiti Jean Ristil 8.jpg

On March 31, 2010, the United Nations hosts a major conference in New York to plan and coordinate reconstruction in Haiti. It is still unclear what role Canada played in the ouster of democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004—an act that paved the way for foreign multinationals to take up shop in Haiti, including Canadian sweatshops and mining companies.

Van Ferrier is a Montreal-based journalist.

Terrorist proceedings "a show trial for political ends"

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:50:45 +0000

Defence lawyers representing the 17 men being held as terrorist suspects in Southern Ontario since June 2 are protesting the recent publication ban levied by justice of the peace Keith Currie.

Rocco Galati, the defence lawyer representing 21-year-old Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, told reporters, "I want the public to see the bail hearing, I want the public to assess for itself and have confidence in the administration of justice and the only way to do that is with a live feed."

Galati accused "confidential police sources" of unfairly leaking selected information to the media "to ensure the denial of a fair bail hearing and the denial of a fair trial."

Aljazeera quoted Galati, condemning what he described as "a show trial for political ends," noting the intention was "to influence the vote in the House of Commons on extending the anti-terrorism provision and to influence the Supreme Court ... in its constitutional review of anti-terrorism provisions."

According to the Toronto Star, defence lawyers said their clients' cell lights are being left on 24 hours a day, they're being forced to keep their eyes on the floor and are being woken every 30 minutes. The lawyers said that amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment," and a breach of their clients' Charter rights.

Saint John city official backs secret tax deal for LNG plant

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:05:44 +0000

Saint John city manager Terry Totten has announced that the mayor's secret deal to grant Irving Oil and Repsol of Spain a generous break on property taxes was a good idea. The deal was made last March to help the energy companies build a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant in New Brunswick's largest city.

According to CBC News, the companies will pay $500,000 per year in property taxes for the next 25 years, about one-tenth of what the land could have brought in.

Mayor Norm McFarlane went ahead with the decision despite opposition from city councillors, including Deputy Mayor Michelle Hooton. City Councillor Ivan Court said the deal was fiscally irresponsible, highlighting the fact that "[the municipality] gave a preferential rate to a company and it cost the taxpayers of this city $112.5 million over 25 years."

At the time of the deal, McFarlane told council that the companies gave him a midnight deadline to make the secret deal, or the plant would not be built. Totten said the loss in property taxes would be offset by investment and employment opportunities at the facility.

Provincial NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir says the proposed tax break for the LNG plant violates the fundamental principles of equal opportunity. Weir told CBC News that just as Irvings was negotiating this special deal, many New Brunswickers were receiving notices in the mail that their own property taxes were going up.

Once completed in 2008, the plant will link up with a controversial pipeline that has prompted opposition by a coalition of anti-LNG protestors, environmental activists and citizens opposed to having the 30-inch diameter pipeline run through the city.

The Square Tomato Capital of Canada

Thu, 25 May 2006 15:44:14 +0000

Leamington, Ontario: "The Best Place To Live" For Who?

Leamington, Ontario is the "Tomato Capital of the World." photo: The Municipality of Leamington

The results are finally in. Leamington ON (pop. 25,000) is the best place to live in Canada. Or so says MoneySense Magazine, which found Leamington to be "Canada's best kept secret" after researching 108 communities of at least 10,000 people across the country.

Leamington topped most of the study's categories, including population growth, income per capita, employment, economic diversity, and housing prices. Leamington also scored big points for the weather.

With arguably the best climate in Canada, agricultural output is naturally Leamington's golden egg. In fact, Leamington boasts the single largest grouping of vegetable greenhouses in North America. Leamington's Economic Development Officer, Anne Miskovsky, says there are more greenhouses in Leamington than in the entire United States.

Leamington isn't called the tomato capital of Canada for nothing. Tomatoes are by far Leamington's largest greenhouse vegetable crop, supplying the local Heinz processing plant and supermarkets across North America.

Economic indicators of the MoneySense report show that Leamington benefits from robust and steady growth thanks to its agriculture sector. Greenhouses alone generate about $1 billion every year in revenue for the local economy. However, according to Chris Ramsaroop of Justice for Migrant workers (an Ontario-based NGO), little of that prosperity is being shared with a largely migrant workforce.

"The magazine ignores migrant workers because they are not included in any of the data sets from which the criteria are formed," says Ramsaroop. Though migrant workers spend several months of the year in Canada, they are not granted Canadian citizenship and thus were ignored by the MoneySense report.

Every year since 1966, thousands of Mexican guest workers have come to Leamington as part of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Many of these workers supply cheap labour to the lucrative tomato business thereby fueling local business development. According to Ramsaroop, migrant workers suffer from poor living and working conditions with little or no legal protection. He challenges MoneySense to spend a day in the life of a migrant worker to see if it matches the level of well-being trumpeted in the article.

An Ontario court recently ruled that farm workers are not permitted to unionize. While workers are allowed to form worker associations to voice their concerns, employers are not obliged to respond. Michael Fraser, National Director of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada, says the decision by Ontario Superior Court Justice James Farley means that farm workers will continue to be exploited and treated like second-class citizens.

Workers have reported a variety of abuses, including badly maintained and crowded living quarters and exposure to unsafe levels of pesticides. Migrant workers often remain silent, however, fearing the loss of an income that is often crucial to their family in Mexico.

Leamington's model of development – one that favours economic efficiency over the well-being of its workforce – is much like the story of the square tomato.

When tomato producers sought to intensify production in the 1960s, they hired researchers to come up with something more efficient than the existing mechanized tomato picker. But rather than reinventing a tomato picker to fit the fragile contours of a ripe tomato, they reinvented the glorious red fruit to fit the picker. The result was a square tomato. This tasteless fruit turned out to be harmful to public health and the project was subsequently dropped.

Leamington has chosen to use migrant farm workers – people willing to work longer hours for lower wages than those in the domestic workforce – to power its economic engine. At the same time, these workers are denied the legal rights that would improve their quality of life.

"Any meaningful evaluation of a community's quality of life should certainly include the well-being of its workforce," says Ramsaroop, who notes MoneySense magazine missed an excellent opportunity to discuss the very real challenges facing migrant workers in Canada's tomato capital.

Leamington, Ontario was chosen as the "best place to live in Canada" by MoneySense Magazine. Van Ferrier asks, 'For who?'

Dene Tha' to take MacKenzie pipeline to court

Mon, 08 May 2006 11:55:59 +0000

A Dene First Nation in Alberta is going to federal court to block one of the biggest energy projects in Alberta's history–-the giant Mackenzie Valley pipeline--reports CBC News. The Dene Tha' say they weren't properly consulted about the project and are worried the gas pipeline will ruin their way of life.

According to Briarpatch Magazine, the pipeline system will traverse protected wildlife sanctuaries, disturbing migratory patterns and traditional hunting areas. These developments will contribute to the deterioration of cultures that depend on the land.

The Dene Tha' have long been resisting attempts to subvert their sovereignty in the North. Today, many Dene Tha' are questioning the entire process of industrializing their land for the benefit of southern oil companies.

Tom Laviolette, a local resident of Hay River Northwest Territories was quoted in Briarpatch. "If this pipeline goes ahead then our people are not only going to suffer from not being able to hunt, fish and trap on our land; we will eventually lose control of our land. It will be destroyed by oil and mining companies."

Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands resigns

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:44:20 +0000

Massive protests in the Solomon Islands' capital city have left much of Honiara's Chinatown in ruins and forced newly elected Prime Minister Snyder Rini from office, reports The Toronto Star. Over 200 Chinese residents have fled the violence that was sparked by claims of electoral corruption.

According to the Guardian, protesters believe Rini's election was heavily influenced by Taiwan and local Chinese businesses.

The Solomon Islands has become the subject of a diplomatic tug-ofwar between China and Taiwan in recent years, being waged with what the Associated Press calls "chequebook diplomacy." The Pacific island nation is one of Taiwan's 25 diplomatic allies, but China has been trying to lure it to its side.

Following his resignation announcement, Rini was escorted out of Parliament by heavily armed Australian police whose numbers have been increased since civil strife erupted in mid April.

Foreign security forces have been in the islands since 2003 to help end violence between rival islanders, although Sydney Indymedia says Australia's growing military presence in the islands has more to do with geopolitical interests than peacekeeping.

Rini will hold onto his post until lawmakers select a new Prime Minister.

Potable Politics

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 22:30:55 +0000

Will water put the <em>Zapatismo</em> into Mexico's big city politics?

Mexicans protest against the privatization of water and the 4th World Water Forum photo: IndyMedia Mexico

The 4th World Water Forum has drawn to a close in Mexico City, but the debate over who will provide clean drinking water in regions throughout the country has only just begun. In Guadalajara, Mexico's second most populous city, drinking water is a private business. The local water company was sold to multi-national corporations in 1998, since then the price of water has doubled, causing public uproar.

The Jalisco state government and the federal government devised a plan--called Arcediano--to build an elaborate water diversion scheme costing nearly $US 1 billion.

Mexican President Vincente Fox is expected to visit Guadalajara in April to finalize the deal that will divert water from Rio Santiago. However, Jalisco's state water authority and non-governmental organizations have warned that Arcediano is doomed to fail; their studies show the river is highly contaminated with heavy metals. The project is also expected to flood a large section of forestland that is already threatened by poorly planned urban sprawl.

¨We're in a difficult position here,¨ says a Guadalajara taxi driver. ¨Nobody wants to privatize water but nobody trusts the government to manage the water.¨ Scientists say there are other, cleaner, and more affordable ways to bring potable water to the city, leading citizens to demand an alternative plan.

Guadalajana is not alone in its struggle for clean water. With a population of over 100 million, Mexico has fewer than five million citizens who live in cities with a high availability of water. According to Mexico's Secretary of Social Development (SEDESOL), 26 million Mexicans live in cities where water availability is "extremely low."

A column in Guadalajara's Público newspaper argues that Mexico needs a broader approach to its commitment to clean water, tying in the scientific and technological components, with the legislative and the educational components. Despite the hype of the forum and the vocal concern of citizens in Mexico's cities, however, political candidates at the local, state and federal level have been largely silent on the issue.

La otra campaña could offer a response to the politicians' silence and give citizens a voice. Over the past four months, la otra campaña ("the other campaign") led by Subcomandante Marcos (also known as Delegado Zero) has been travelling across Mexico. The aim of the campaign, leading up to the July 2nd presidential election, is to gain a better understanding of citizens' concerns in different parts of the country.

Denouncing all political candidates in favour of direct action to protect local self-dermination, Marcos has tapped into widespread political cynicism and is building support for reducing the plight of Mexico's indigenous people.

According to University of Guadalajara sociology professor Dr. Jorge Regalado, citizens across the country are looking for the kind of resistance the Zapatistas have developed in their home state of Chiapas.

¨The people from the government ignore us. We are interested in water, not money, because we can't drink money,¨ says a campesino woman in Querétaro in central Mexico.

When la otra campaña visited Querétaro in central Mexico, Marcos proposed that followers form brigades to stop the drilling of 14 industrial wells in El Batán, which threaten to disrupt the area's most important aquifier.

Such calls to action are not uncommon in rural areas where the Zapatistas have advanced local self-determination in autonomous communities they call Caracoles. However, residents of Guadalajara have difficulty seeing the relevance of a peasant-based movement in a cosmopolitan city of eight million people.

Perhaps the biggest question facing la otra campaña is how to inspire Mexican solidarity along the principles of an open social movement. According to Regalado, one of the major drawbacks to the Zapatista movement is the fact that the Sixth Declaration of the Lacondon, the Zapatistas' constitution from below and to the left, excludes a significant portion of Mexican society.

¨People are tired of political corruption and feel the economy is not fair to the average person, but the Zapatistas´ are limiting their message to an indigenous struggle and excluding the rest of us,¨ says a student in Guanajuato.

Dr. Jorge Regalado says one of Marcos' central objectives should be creating the "urban Zapatista."

The potential is here, says Regalado. He notes that despite its traditionally conservative voting record, the citizens of Guadalajara have demonstrated the power and potential of citizen-based movements before. After organizing a massive movement of "the indebted" following the peso crisis in the mid 1990s, Regalado says Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco have the ability to pull together a diverse crowd around common goals.

There are strong indications that adherents to la otra campaña may achieve some of the results they seek by showing the applicability of the Zapatistas' "other way" to Mexico's big city problems. With water accessibility becoming a major concern throughout the country, it has the potential to become the focal point of a broader social movement, linking rural and urban
communities around the progressive changes Mexicans demand.

Van Ferrier wonders if water will be the issue that puts the Zapatismo into Mexico's big city politics.

Tremblay's Remote Control

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 23:26:52 +0000

How City Hall's 'closed bureaucratic culture' continues to drive Montreal away from sustainability

According to critics, Tremblay is not listening to sustainable solutions that Montreal citizens want.

Citizens in countries like Canada are suffering from the effects of ill-planned cities and environmental degradation, says Executive Director of UN-Habitat Anna Tibaijuka leading up to the third session of the World Urban Forum to be held in Vancouver next spring. At the heart of this crisis, she says, is a failure to consult and to allow the full participation of ordinary people in the development of cities.

Montreal, the city Prime Minister Paul Martin picked to host this year's International Climate Talks on behalf of Canada, is a poignant illustration of Ms. Tibaijuka's message, according to Ray Tomalty who teaches Urban Planning at McGill University and runs a research institute on urban issues in Montreal.

Tomalty explains that on January 1, 2006 Montreal's Mayor Gerald Tremblay will take control of the new Agglomeration Council that was created by the province of Quebec to manage common services such as police and fire departments, water treatment facilities and public transit for Montreal Island municipalities.

The coverage of these services will include several suburban communities that voted to de-merge from the city. But rather than achieving the autonomy from what these fifteen communities perceived as a highly centralized Montreal City Hall, the de-mergers have actually increased dependency on the Mayor's executive committee.

Tomalty says these communities were hoping to become independent cities, "But got a dictator and more taxes instead."

Rather than allowing all Montreal city councillors to sit on the Agglomeration Council – which will manage the taxes of most residents in the metropolitan area – Mayor Tremblay appointed his handpicked executive committee to administer it. The Quebec government recently approved this move.

Richard Bergeron – leader of a new force in local politics called Projet Montreal – says this is what Montrealers have come to expect from Tremblay's style of governance.

"The executive committee sits behind closed doors under the Tremblay administration, and a culture of secrecy reigns at City Hall," says Bergeron. "Our mayor would like to transpose this type of governance to the Agglomeration Council. This tactic is intended to muzzle the opposition."

Incumbent Montreal city Councillor Alan de Sousa is responsible for sustainable development on Mayor Tremblay's executive committee. He says his team has moved Montreal forward and will continue to do so with a 20-year plan that will commit the city of Montreal to clear sustainable development objectives. Bergeron has doubts Tremblay will follow through on these commitments.

Mayor Tremblay, who was re-elected for a second term November 6 built his political support in the suburbs of Montreal by promising the de-mergers. The Mayor continues to maintain that support by investing in infrastructure, which according to Projet Montreal makes suburban life more comfortable with new highways and bridges at the expense of the overall health and well-being of urban residents.

"For 60 years, Montreal has been locked into a dead-end development path that has put us in a very vulnerable position," says Bergeron. "But we must wake up from this 'American dream' attitude that is keeping us from achieving our goals."

Bergeron says the Mayor's agenda goes against what most Montrealers want. "Citizens want to live in complete communities that are healthy, well maintained, safe and clean," he says. "By building houses in clusters around public transportation hubs, we can minimize traffic, noise and pollution with energy efficient dwelling units that conserve heat and electricity."

Public transport-oriented development is precisely the kind of innovative initiatives that Bergeron – an urban planner with twenty years of experience in Quebec and abroad – is proposing for Montreal. It is also the foundation upon which Scandinavian countries learned to develop participatory local governments that are some of the most accountable and sustainable in the world.

Montrealers had the rare opportunity to discuss municipal environmental issues with city officials during the municipal election environmental debate. High expectations were placed on de Sousa who was forced to defend both his administration's environmental record and what Tomalty calls City Hall's "closed bureaucratic culture" that has become notorious among Canadian cities for lacking transparency and failing to encourage citizens to participate in the democratic process.

"We are facing monumental challenges that require a completely different mindset," Bergeron says during the debate. "We see Montreal slipping behind many other cities in North America that have made the step towards sustainable planning through better governance."

Residents of Vancouver for example are finding that the Greater Vancouver Regional District – the regional authority that oversees key services in the greater Vancouver area and facilitates provincial cooperation on common policy issues – has given them a solid foundation upon which new projects and policies are being built with a vision for sustainability.

So why hasn't Montreal achieved similar results? Tomalty says its because despite having a regional authority that includes 64 municipalities, the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal, or CMM) is not accountable to the citizens it is supposed to represent. Vancouver city officials, on the other hand, have encouraged greater public participation via public consultations, ideas fairs, and other visible commitments to democratic inclusion.

With Kyoto delegates in town from November 28 to December 9, the biggest challenge for Montreal's commitment to sustainable development is not whether it can play host to important international meetings on climate change. Montreal city officials and citizens should be asking themselves how they could make sound contributions to improving health and well-being by improving the democratic accountability of City Hall.

What do democracy and sustainability have to do with eachother? Van Ferrier finds out in Montreal.