The Dominion - 60

Moose Calves with their Mother

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:00:45 +0000

baby animals: things that make you go "aww..."

The largest mammal in the deer family, the North American Moose (Alces alces americanus) has long lived throughout most of Canada and the northeastern United States.

The word moose comes from the Algonquin Eastern Abenaki name moz, which loosely means "twig eater."

Moose cows remain pregnant for eight months, after which time they generally give birth to just one calf, although twins and triplets have been known to occur. Although moose are usually loners, a very a strong bond is formed between a mother and her calves, who learn to walk and follow her around almost immediately after being born. Young moose tend to stay close to their mother until just before she next gives birth.

Newborn moose begin by drinking their mother's milk and quickly work up to eating plants. The moose is a strict herbivore; most of its diet is made up of woody plant material like the tips of twigs, fresh leaves and shoots, which it is able to pull sideways through its mouth, often stripping off up to half-a-metre of plant life with its rough, dense tongue and lips.

Moose have few natural enemies, but wolf packs sometimes pose a threat to mothers alone with their young. A moose will become paralyzed with pain if its extremely sensitive nose is bitten by wolves or other attackers.

Moose bulls are highly distinguishable by their wide, outstretched palmate antlers. After mating season, the male will shed its antlers to conserve energy over the winter, and a new pair will grow when spring comes. A male calf is born with two tiny bumps on its head from which his first pair of antlers will grow.

Baby moose with their mother

Issue #60

dru — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:54:34 +0000

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June 2009

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CIBC and Me, Part IV

dru — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:19:00 +0000

A little complaint about genocide, put into perspective

In May of 2003, Stewart Steinhauer informed the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) that he was stopping his payments on $150,000 of loans.

Steinhauer wrote at the time: "After 'discovering' genocide in Canada, I searched for the villains, and my search led from my reserve, here at Saddle Lake, to the top of the international financial community." As the primary beneficiaries of genocide and the expropriation of indigenous land that continues to drive it, Canada's financial institutions had to be held accountable.

"Unable to ignore, or deny, the incredible suffering being visited upon my family, friends, and all of the rest of the peoples who make up indigenous nations within the boundaries of Canada," wrote Steinhauer, "I began to look for something that I could actually do to affect the situation."

In an exchange of letters published in The Dominion, Steinhauer made his case for withholding payment. "I stated several times," Steinhauer wrote of an encounter with a debt collector, "that I intend to repay in full whatever I owe CIBC, when I am satisfied with Canada's actions in relation to Indigenous peoples, specifically the immediate repeal of the Indian Act, and the honouring of Treaty Six, including back payments, royalties, up-dated annuities, and whatever may be necessary to reverse the genocide." CIBC refused Steinhauer's conditions, and Steinhauer refused to pay.

* * *

Six years have passed since I launched my timid little complaint about genocide in Canada. One outcome has been the opportunity to engage in a whole lot of irritating telephone discussions with collection agency workers tasked by CIBC to harass me in the general direction they would like to see me go, like herding a wild animal out of the bush. Except for the initial response, a letter from CIBC printed by The Dominion in the first installment, there has been no more direct discussion between CIBC officials and myself about my initial complaint.

Other things have happened, too. The global financial meltdown, for one. Suddenly there is a public discussion about the bankocracy in power, and the massive transfer of taxpayer money into private shareholder and management hands, what some commentators are calling the largest theft in history. The geographer, David Harvey, calls it accumulation by dispossession. Take from the poor and give to the rich.

This is the role the historical development of capitalism has assigned to Indigenous Peoples in the Americas: we give, the rich take. Some Indigenous folks have been protesting; my cousin Vincent commented that we've gone from being officially listed as non-persons to being officially listed as terrorists. It's a start, in a way. Now we are at least perceived as existing.

Speaking of terrorists, how about that 19th century philosopher so frightening to almost all modern economists? I have tried to read Karl Marx, but there's something about his writing style and tone that loses me in the space between the capitalized first word in a sentence and the period indicating its end. I don't get the mental picture that a properly constructed sentence is supposed to leave you with. Marx got it all wrong, anyways. Right? Isn't that why absolutely no self-respecting professional economist even bothers to read "Capital"? Kind of a silent ban.

Ah, but forbidden fruit tastes best, doesn't it? The pursuit of forbidden pleasures returns highest yields when shrouded in secrecy; Bernard Madoff would agree. My secret research has been in a style academics call secondary research. I read what folks who've read "Capital" have to say about it, for instance Harry Cleaver's Reading Capital Politically.

And then along came David Harvey's 13-part lecture series, available at davidharvey.org. He's paid to lead a first reading of Capital Vol. 1 at City University of New York. Almost 40 years on in this line of work, you can hear him as he reads selected bits, broadens the meaning with his own examples and discussion, fields questions from his students and provides some outside discussion about Marx and Capital, Vol. 1 in short interview format, with a former student.

For me, it was still mind-numbingly abstract, but by the time I had listened through twice, I was suddenly ready to begin a serious examination of what folks call "the economy." Listening to David Harvey unravel Marx's critique of capitalism while watching Lehman Bros tank and AIG get the first of what has turned out to be a series of intravenous injections of taxpayers' blood, was astonishing. Marx, sitting quietly in the Royal British Museum 150 years ago, contemplating and writing industriously, was talking about the events I was witnessing around me.

From there it was an easy jump to internet discussions about Immanuel Wallerstein's world systems theory, and Giovanni Arrighi's opinions about China's "capital roaders." A description of the historical progression from City States like Venice to not-quite-nations states like Holland, to small nation states with global empires like Great Britain, to continent-sized nation states with global hegemony, like the United States of America, made sense.

All along through this search for meaning I've kept a sharp eye open for any reference to the Indigenous Peoples of what has come to be known as the Americas. In Left literature, such references are always brief: a sentence or two about the absolute destruction of Indigenous Peoples as a footnote in history, a part of primitive accumulation, capitalism's opening stage, long passed... and then no more. To the Left's credit, we at least make the footnote.

By listening to David Harvey I discovered that Karl Marx was engaged in an internal mental debate with David Ricardo and Adam Smith, whose theories are now called classical economy. In the Ricardian/Smithian version of the transition to capitalism, primitive accumulation is a quiet peaceful affair where hard-working individuals make their own breaks, while slothful Others lazily fall back. Those hard working individuals also just happen to be wisely thrifty, accumulating money until it can be diverted from personal consumption and re-deployed as Capital. In the classical and neo-classical liberal accounts of economy, there is absolutely no mention of the invasion of Turtle Island, wholesale destruction of human societies then present, and the absorption into capital stocks of the vast natural wealth of Turtle Island as it became the Americas.

Perhaps with our new designation as terrorists we'll have better luck than as non-persons. Maybe it's like the blues; you've gotta hang in there and do your time, pay your dues, before you get to move into the daylight of becoming just an average human being.

In 2003 I launched an incoherent one-person rebellion against a money property regime which I intuited but could not prove was implicated in the genocide of Indigenous Peoples. In 2009, my new, improved opinion has matured to an understanding that the money property regime against which I rebelled is implicated in genocides all over the planet. (Quite stupidly) from the point of view of its own survival, capitalism is even implicated in global ecocide. Marx lays out the reasons why the system moves inexorably in this direction. He's not the only one to ponder on these things, either. A very active global post-Marxist discussion is currently incorporating Marx's critique of David Ricardo and Adam Smith's classical economic theories, screened through the knowledge gained from the brutal experiences of failed attempts to implement Marxist theory. Ricardo, Smith, and Marx, as well as 100 per cent of so-called professional economists working today, are talking about theories. Actual experience interferes with the smooth operation of all these theoretical constructs, constantly.

I understand now why my property rights are suppressed, while Canadians' property rights are supported, in a property law system that tilts the tables towards the property rights of very wealthy individual Canadians. The key element in the suppression of my property rights is the forced disappearance of my traditional Indigenous forms of property rights, more accurately articulated as a relationship between humanity and non-human life forms (Mother Earth).

The destruction of Indigenous forms of property relationships is an example of activities that occur during Stage One of genocide, according to Raphael Lemkin, the legal expert contracted to draft the UN's Convention on Genocide. By Lemkin's criteria, Canada's Indian Act is an example of Stage Two genocidal behaviour: the forced imposition of the national characteristics of the genociders on the land, and on any surviving humans of the target group. In light of negative world opinion, Canada is edging towards another act of genocide, by incorporating Indigenous Peoples into the Canadian fee-simple property (estate land) law system, so that our original, frighteningly "socialist" property form is obliterated from memory.

I also now understand why money has the highest priority in the commodity chain, and why the folks who deal with the production and distribution of that particular commodity – bankers – have the highest priority in the power chain. I understand how what's called law is actively shaped and managed by the power chain gang, and why no court exists in the world for me to make my case about genocide in Canada.

In the year 2003, when I waved my tiny $150,000 of so-called debt in CIBC's face, in my ignorance, thinking that it might be an attention-getting device, CIBC management was focused on a $2 billion penalty fee arising from their involvement with Enron, a fine they voluntarily agreed to pay in order to avoid more serious consequences. I suppose it was my indoctrination into liberalist ideology that got me to believe that rational folks, when shown the truth, would react humanely. As my mental veil has been rudely lifted in public, my question to CIBC has, over time, transformed into a simple request for them to show me the legal proof, within the liberal structure of international law, of their claim of title to the money property that they "lent" to me. I'll speak more about banks and lending further on, but for now, I'll simply note that their Indian Act has tangled their own feet.

Canadian Indian policy was originally meant as a caretaker regime to quietly nurse Indigenous Peoples into a collective grave; this policy has backfired spectacularly in that, unexpectedly, Indigenous Peoples still exist. These still-existing Peoples are recognized, in international law, as holding certain political, economic and cultural rights, noted in the recent UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights. Canada, one of only four nations that refused to sign that declaration, claims root title to the Dominion of Canada, a title vested in the Crown.

The banks' claim, based on the Crown's claim, is invalid within the framework of international law even though the forces we're calling the Crown have constructed international law for their own purposes. Taken further, this means that all third-party claims based on the Crown's claims are also invalid; for instance, fee-simple title to real estate. Fee-simple is a registered interest in the Crown's underlying claim to root title. Anyone in Canada who holds fee-simple title is directly benefiting from the dispossession strategies to which Indigenous Peoples are subjected. It's a chain reaction caused by Indigenous Peoples' failure to disappear.

What are my choices? As a non-person-cum-terrorist I don't have the psychology to be even the tiniest bit threatening, thanks to being a life-long pacifist. Whether or not that psychology includes cowardice, it's compounded by a philosophical attraction to a long Indigenous history of non-violent problem-solving that always shies away from direct confrontation, while continuously seeking consensual solutions. Both the Mayan Zapatistas and the Bolivian Indigenous-driven Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) have anti-capitalism as the front plank in their campaign platform. Now I understand why. Capitalism is a system that requires exploitation, causes ever-widening gaps between rich and poor (with all it's socially destabilizing effects) and has to mine the environment in ever more extreme ways, leading ultimately to total environmental devastation. The system requires ongoing imperialism, and moves in bubble cycles; war, financial crises and environmental destruction are not aberrations of the system, but key structural components.

I started out with a tiny complaint about genocide, and linking it to the banking industry. That naïve action has opened a doorway to fantasies like a zero-growth economy, with full ecological sustainability, and trade systems based on fair and equitable exchange instead of exploitation, in a global system consciously chosen by folks who have the mental/physical/emotional/spiritual space in their day-to-day lives to devote to this sort of contemplation. All folks. Everywhere. The naïf in me imagines that there could be a genuine democracy, on the foundation of a grassroots council system, to replace the current system of oligarchic rule that uses a managed periodic electoral function to rubber-stamp the oligarchic decisions we now endure.

In 1980, an American Indian Movement activist, Russell Means, made a provocative public statement: "In order for humanity to live, Europe must die." Just more Indigenous terrorist rhetoric, right? Kill Europe?

Perhaps some bankerly folks absorbed his comment into their subconscious minds, and its sublimation re-surfaced as a mass financial suicide attempt in the fall of 2008. Certainly the eight years of Cheney-Bush administration made every effort to drive the US-centric Global Empire into the ditch.

It leaves humanity in a precarious position. The sudden massive transfer of public wealth to private bankers consolidates and centralizes wealth into fewer and fewer hands. Publicly-subsidized debt forgiveness for the rich and layoff/foreclosure/deficit for the poor is the proposed antidote to the present crisis. However, the decay of the US Empire, with no new greater-than-continental-sized Empire looming on the global horizon, presents an ideal opening for power chain gangs. Non-wealthy humanity, the remaining 99 per cent of us, is in such a state of antisocial disrepair that the likelihood of a grassroots democratic egalitarian outcome is remote. The alternatives seem to be a step backward into a dangerous, violent, global non-state, where Blackwater-style mercenary armies provide as much security as possible for oligarchs, or a step forward in human consciousness, beyond the ideologies of elite rule into a stable, global pro-choosing-all-life steady state.

My choices boil down to one simple action: I'll add my one little voice to the global vote on our common human future. I recommend that we humans start an international not-for-profit banking system that makes credit and credit counseling widely available. That would eliminate the need for primitive accumulation, including the accumulation through dispossession tactics that Indigenous Lands and Peoples are subjected to. Ricardo, Smith and Marx all describe the capitalist production cycle as starting with capital. It's a conundrum: if you can make it through to the end of the production cycle and successfully realize the transformation of the commodities produced back into money, you will have, at the end of the cycle, what you need at the beginning. Capital.

You either have to scavenge around, in other Peoples' pockets, figuratively speaking (one of the reasons for imperialism, for your startup capital), or you have to have access to credit. Canada's Indian Act prohibits on-reserve status Indians as individuals or as collectives, such as Indian Bands, from gaining access to Canadian credit markets, by vesting title to all property in the Crown. This vestiture is a component of Canada's ongoing struggle with Indigenous Peoples inside of Canada, where the Crown claims root title to all territory inside of the Dominion of Canada, in spite of the Crown's inability to provide evidence in support of such a claim. Banks cannot engage directly with on-reserve status Indian individuals or organizations because the normal types of security, where banks place claims on property, cannot be enforced.

I unintentionally sidestepped this barrier because of the way that racism's real name, white privilege, operates in apartheid societies. As described in earlier Dominion segments of this micro-saga, unconscious white privilege was interacting with unconscious white privilege whenever I sat in my CIBC accounts manager's office. From 1975 until 2002 this unconscious collusion kept my accounts transactions below the Indian Act radar, and it wasn't until CIBC upgraded their risk assessment programs to include, for the first time, an aboriginal business component, that my unique case came to light.

One fateful day, in the local St. Paul, Alberta, branch of CIBC, during a normal review of my banking business, my accounts manager was instructed by her monitor to press a certain key sequence to enter all information into the new aboriginal business program. From there, a warning popped up on her screen asking her to immediately call risk assessment headquarters in Toronto, followed shortly by a screaming male voice coming out of her phone ear piece, which I could hear plainly from across the office. He unwittingly became one of my informal advisers in the matters now being dutifully reported to you, the Dominion reader.

Section 89 of the Indian Act blocks CIBC from being able to take legal action against me. However, Section 89 also points obtusely towards the fact that, by the letter of the law, I own absolutely nothing while on reserve lands, not even the shirt on my back. The Dominion is not the Globe and Mail's Report On Business, so I probably won't get any feedback on this topic, but if any average Canadian business person was asked to give up all of the their Canadian property rights and forgo access to formal Canadian credit markets, while trying to operate any sort of (legal) business inside of an entire zone existing under these conditions, then they, like I, may try to lodge a complaint.

The UN's genocide clause about deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part may be argued against in the Canadian situation based on the inclusion of the word "deliberately." However, for anyone who is familiar with conditions of life on-reserve circa 2009, and continuously so since the Indian Act's official inception in 1876, the remainder of that clause is a grim reality.

Luckily this is about an Indigenous reality, where there are always more options. Would you care to dance? And so I dance around in a circle with CIBC, existing under a constant barrage of collection agency psychological operations, often laced with racist comments. But this isn't about CIBC; this about the Canadian banking system.

In western civilization's current system, commercial banks create new money by issuing new debt. The central banks of each of western civilization's nation state members manage the money supply in circulation to sort of keep step with their commercial banks' issuance of new money, and either accelerate or depress the demand for the issuance of new debt by adjusting the interest rate. Theoretically, private banks hold in reserve some proportion of the total amount of debt they have issued, in actual cash, taken as deposits or from the sale of shares.

The new money thus created must be repaid with interest; the interest portion is above and beyond the amount of the principle lent out. This means that new money has to be created somewhere else, the borrower has to be able to get his hands on it, and return it to the bank, along with the principle. For this to happen on an ongoing basis, the entire amount of money in circulation has to continually grow, with new money created through issuance of new debt going towards payment of interest on former issuance of new debt. In other words, a Ponzi scheme.

In order to avoid the Ponzi nature of our current money creation system, we need issuance of credit as a public service, and we need it to be issued without an interest charge. A central contradiction of capitalism is that capitalism requires infinite growth inside a finite space. Logically, we humans need to collectively contemplate a zero-growth economy. There's no good reason why money has to be created by commercial banks; have at look at Richard Douthwaite's The Ecology Of Money, a free read on the internet. And there is no good reason for interest to be charged; it's actually a from of extortion. That an elite group is allowed to create money out of thin air and then charge rent on it will be seen as criminal, some day.

Western civilizationists talk a lot about the democratic rule of law. In my humble opinion such talk is abstract; I for one would like to see this actually happen. Therefore, I also recommend that all Peoples present inside the territorial boundaries of Canada, Canadians and Indigenous, to carefully and thoughtfully end Canada’s apartheid era by undertaking a comprehensive collective action. The days of Indian Acts are over, and a new era of pluri-national, ethnically-diverse, eco-logically, bio-regional governance-by-consensus is dawning. Making credit available as a public service, like education and health care, and like energy and transportation services should also be, is a possible first step towards the advent of an Indigenist society: a Turtle Island re-emergence.

Ninety-nine per cent of the Peoples inside Canada, Indigenous and Canadian, are already paying for it – Canadians through dispossession of tax dollars, and Indigenous through dispossession of resources, land, and life. A major incentive to engage in primitive accumulation through dispossession would be removed if credit were made available as a public service. It's possible that a greener hue of what things look like right now could be produced, quite quickly, if we didn't have the inner driving forces of capitalism that continually push towards bubble crises, war, and ecological destruction.

Political economy is really not all that complicated, once you get the hang of it. Our current crop of bankocrats just make it look complicated.

In all fairness to them, it is extremely complicated to keep a severely dysfunctional system running when in fact it needs to die so that we all can live.

Gifted with a white privilege suit on his Birth Day, Steinhauer has been slipping back and forth across the invisible boundary between Turtle Island and Canada, since 1952. And this is what he saw.

Winter Spirit Bear

A Harbour For War?

Tim McSorley — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:12:49 +0000

The defence industry grows in Halifax

HALIFAX-In April, Lockheed Martin announced it would be growing its operations in Halifax, creating 100 new jobs over the next five years. The announcement was hailed by Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald as "further proof of Nova Scotia's reputation as a destination of choice for the world's best companies."

Lockheed is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers, reporting sales of $42.7 billion last year. The province, through Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), is supporting its expansion with a $1.8 million payroll rebate.

"It's frightening when you have a company doing as well as Lockheed and they're getting tax breaks," says Heidi Verheul, a member of the Halifax Peace Coalition (HPC), an organization speaking out against Lockheed's expansion and payroll rebate. "We should be investing in more sustainable industries," she adds.

NSBI is not in the business of sustainability, however, but of increasing economic activity in the province. And industries like defence and aerospace contribute $1.5 billion to the provincial economy each year and provide jobs with $70,000 annual salaries, says Sarah Levy of NSBI. "You can't argue with numbers like that."

But Verheul says it's unethical for the province to support companies like Lockheed. "This is a company that earned over $3 billion in profit last year from war. It should not be getting government handouts. Its Hellfire missiles are used to kill people in the Middle East."

HPC member Tamara Lorincz adds that it's the choices and policies of the provincial and federal government that help make weapons manufacturing more profitable.

A year ago, the Harper government unveiled the Canada First Defence Strategy, which commits to raising defence funding from $18 billion in 2008-09 to over $30 billion in 2027-28. In total, the government plans to invest close to $490 billion in defence over a 20 year period.

The move is an obvious boon for weapons manufacturers who will profit from large contracts with the Canadian military. In November, a Lockheed Martin-led team was awarded a $2 billion contract for the installation, integration and long-term in-service support of a new combat system for 12 of the Canadian Navy's frigates, or warships.

When announcing the new jobs in Nova Scotia, Tom Digan, president of Lockheed Martin Canada, stated that "an expansion in Halifax simply makes sense."

Nova Scotia is home to approximately 40 per cent of all Canadian military assets. Operating in Halifax provides a "proximity to clients," says Levy, an advantage that NSBI highlights on its website.

Indeed, one of Lockheed Martin's offices in Halifax is inside the Canadian Forces base. The company has a 25 year ongoing relationship with the Canadian Navy, says Levy - a relationship Lockheed refers to as a "25 year legacy."

Lorincz does not support the Canadian military having such cozy relations with Lockheed. She points out that Norway's government pension fund divested itself of its shares in Lockheed because the company's activities as a weapons manufacturer are considered in breach of its ethical guidelines. Lorincz adds that no socially responsible investment (SRI) fund will invest in weapons manufacturers either.

"If it's not ethical for Norway, if it's not ethical for SRI, why are we doing this?" she asks.

Lockheed isn't the only weapons manufacturer to see the advantage of locating in Halifax. L-3 Electronic Systems, General Dynamics and Xwave also have offices in the city.

"We're not opposed to the workers," says Verheul. "People need to feed their families. We want to see more sustainable industries supported."

"Jobs to make combat systems are not the kind of jobs that we need," echoes Kaleigh Trace, a Dalhousie University student and a member of the Student
Coalition Against War (SCAW). In February, SCAW protested Lockheed's presence at a Dalhousie career fair. "The government should be supporting companies involved in the green economy and investing more in education, not supporting a weapons industry," she says.

While the Canadian and provincial government invest in weapons and defence, Lorincz points out that the "real enemies" are going unnoticed. "We're facing real threats like climate change," she says, but the same year the federal government spend $18 billion on defence, $1.5 billion was spend on environment.

"When we ask Canadians what their priorities are, they say health and the environment," says Lorincz. She points to a 2005 poll done by the Centre of Research and Information that found the top three program priorities for Canadians are protecting the environment (78 per cent), spending more on health care (74 per cent) and spending more on education and training (73 per cent). She would like to see the federal and provincial government shift their priorities accordingly. "Let's get people working on solar and renewable energy."

Hillary is an organizer with the Halifax Media Co-op and Managing Editor at The Dominion.

Propagandhi Scores Against War

Moira Peters — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:33:19 +0000

Torture, Terror, and Don Cherry face the music in the band's sixth release

Propagandhi, Winnipeg’s “progressive thrash” heroes, have just released a new album. Supporting Caste is twelve and a half songs of political passion and metal-tinged post-punk. Singer Chris Hannah discusses the issues inspiring their sixth full-length album.

Erin Empey: Do you think that Propagandhi has evolved since the release of Potemkin City Limits? What’s new with Supporting Caste?

Chris Hannah: I'd like to think so! At the very least, we added The Beave on second guitar to the line-up, so that's new, and in my opinion has added a lot more depth, dimension and atmosphere to our customary sonic pummelings.

Also, Jord has more gray hair on this record. I’m not sure if that comes through on the recording though.

Since you guys decided to fold your record label last year, how has working with Smallman been compared to G7 Welcoming Committee?

Well, considering we're in a time where the racket of selling recordings to people has been essentially eviscerated, it's been pretty good! We've known them for years, they understand where we're coming from and they live within choking distance. These are important factors.

G7 operated using Participatory Economics (parecon), where business decisions were made democratically and profits were shared equally among members. Based on your experience, do you think it could be applied on a larger scale?

After a decade of experience in a parecon-inspired enterprise that was subject to all the human frailties and palace intrigues that every single gathering of more than two people throughout history has always endured, I still can't come up with any good reason why people shouldn't endeavor to embrace parecon's core values of solidarity, equity, diversity and self-management in their workplaces. It makes sense and it is right.

The track “Human(e) Meat” opens with a howling Sandor Katz about to be cannibalized. Who is Katz and why do you want to eat him?

Sandor Katz is someone who talks and writes about food. He has a book called "the Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" that is actually worth reading until you hit the absurd and utterly embarrassing chapter where he tries to rationalize torturing, maiming, killing and mutilating sentient animals for his personal enjoyment. It is the type of embarrassing new-age hippy nonsense that sets serious debate about food politics and human ethics back a decade every time it rears its hippy head.

We simply used his logic, step by step, and daydreamed me rationalizing torturing, maiming, killing and mutilating him for my personal enjoyment. Which is of course also absurd, which was the point of the illustration.

Apparently he has no sense of humour (or of his own irony for that matter) and is very upset about it. Poor persecuted meat eaters! Will they never be free from the tyrannical oppression of vegetarians?

In “Dear Coaches Corner” you lament Don Cherry using his platform to promote militarism. Do you think that there are ugly politics in hockey culture beyond Don Cherry's routines?

For sure. Cherry is just the emptiest and hence, the loudest barrel. The culture of professional hockey is essentially a propaganda wing of the western elite and their geo-political objectives. Why else would Jim Balsillie, head cocknose of the company that makes the Blackberry, appear on Hockey Night in Canada thanking Canadian troops in Afghanistan for "defending our lifestyle?" Wait, I thought it was about liberating Afghan women? Whoops!

During the pre-release of Supporting Caste, proceeds from downloads went to Partners in Health, Sea Shepherd Society and Peta2. Why are these groups important to you?

Partners in Health provides a preferential option for the poor in health care. At its root, their mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When their patients are ill and have no access to care, their team of health professionals, scholars, and activists will do whatever it takes to make them well – just as one would do if a member of one's own family were ill. They stand with their patients, some of the poorest and sickest victims of poverty and violence, in their struggle for equity and social justice.

People for the ethical treatment of animals is probably best known as the most frequently criticized and denounced activist organization on the planet. Some of the criticisms are legitimate, like those that lament campaigns that play on and foster or perpetuate sexist stereotypes in the service of drawing attention to the mundane terrors visited upon animals in human societies. Still, Peta2 (the youth wing of its parent organization) is currently the most effective potential gateway drug to an abolitionist animal liberation perspective that is not merely anti-animal exploitation, but anti-capitalist, anti-sexist and connects human affairs with non-human animal affairs.

Less than one percent of the planet's living creatures live on land, so you'll have to excuse Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society for his bluntness when declaring the Sea Shepherds Society's "single-mindedness" for defending the oceans from human encroachment and exploitation. We humans constitute less than 0.1% of life on earth and act like we are entitled to the rest of it. Humans continue to terrorize and destroy the largest-brained sentient mammals in the history of earth and enlist the services of PR firms to cloak the brutality in vestments of scientific research. The Sea Shepherd intends to stop such stupidity.

Do you ever feel awkward about speaking on behalf of groups you are not a part of, such as Aboriginals, refugees or women? With an influential band, is there a danger of overshadowing the voices of those you are trying to help?

Not if you're a good listener. My obligation as I see it is to take the information that marginalized groups have articulated to me about the realities they face in a fucked up system and relay it to my people in a way that has resonance. And what can I say? My people happen to be largely white guys in NHL starter caps. Hey, we need information too, eh!

When are you playing Vancouver?

I refuse to answer such a politically-loaded question!

Erin Empey is a Vancouver based journalist.

propaghandi

May in Review, Part II

dawn — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:31:11 +0000

Workplaces raided, CSIS exposed, extractive industry AGMs crashed

Nine women were arrested in a workplace raid at Lakeside Produce in Leamington, Ontario. “We are outraged by these arrests,” said Chris Ramsroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers. “These attacks destroy our communities. Instead of attacking the immigration system, we are attacking workers who put food on our table.” One arrestee is pregnant.

Guatemalans, Hondurans, members of the Nak’azdli nation and concerned Vancouverites protested outside Goldcorp's annual general meeting in Vancouver. Hondurans are demanding reparations for damage caused by the San Martin open-pit gold mine. In Guatemala, Mayan communities are demanding the Marlin mine be shut down. And in northern BC, the Nak'azdli nation are refusing Goldcorp's spin-off Terrane Metals to operate on their lands.

Thirty communities in the Northwest Territories united on a moratorium on tar sands development. "This is no longer just an issue for Albertans, and now poses a risk to all downstream communities in the Mackenzie Basin," reads the resolution.

Climate activists protested outside Duke Energy's annual general meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, while a dozen shareholders questioned the company's CEO for more than an hour from the meeting room floor. Their primary beef is Duke's proposed expansion of the Cliffside coal plant, which would cost $2.4 billion, and increase the plant's capacity to 825 megawatts.

The federal appeals court (4th Circuit) in Richmond, Virgina, opened the possibility for mountaintop removal coal mining to restart in Appalachia.

Seventeen people were arrested in West Virginia for civil disobedience against the highly destructive mining practice.

The inquest into the police shooting of Montréal teen Freddy Villanueva and two other men was suspended indefinitely. The Villanueva family and the other shooting victims withdrew from the inquiry process. "The population of Montreal North was very touched by the death of Freddy Villanueva and there is a sentiment that the government authorities are hiding the details surrounding the case," according to Alexandre Popovic of the Coalition contre la Répression et les Abus Policiers (CRAP).

A federal court ruling questioned allegations by Canadian Security Intelligence Service against Mohamed Harkat. Harkat, accused of being allied with terrorists, is one of Canada's Secret Trial Five – one of five Muslim men in Canada forced to live with a Security Certificate.

A Native warrior and father of five from the Ohlone & Chumash nations was arrested near Hope, BC. According to a press release from the Native Youth Movement, Shark's arrest was based on seven-year-old charges connected with protecting the land at Skwelkwek'welt, in the Secwepemc mountains. Shark is currently held at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Center.

The Vancouver Sun's reporter covering the 2010 Olympics acknowledged he wrote for the winter issue of the Olympic Review, the "official publication of the Olympic movement," published by the International Olympic Committee. Questions have arisen about conflict of interest: a journalist reporting on an organization that pays him. "I was waiting for you guys to call. Someone told me you were on this bullshit," Lee told The Tyee. Lee works for CanWest Global, an official media supplier of the Games, but not the official media carrier, which is BellGlobeMedia, owner of CTV and the Globe and Mail.

General Motors prepared to file for bankruptcy. GM is an Olympic sponsor, and VANOC claimed the company will still provide 4,300 cars for the 2010 Games.

California voters upheld Proposition 8, an amendment to the US Constitution that bans same-sex marriage. The 18,000 gay couples that married in 2008 will continue to be recognized as legally married. Supporters of gay marriage marched in Fresno, California, and will push to take the issue back to the ballot box in 2010.

Palestinian academics called for called for a British boycott of Israeli universities and post-secondary institutions, asking for "moral consistency," citing the academic boycott of apartheid South Africa.

In Mogadishu 45 people are dead and 49,000 people fled the city in the latest round of fighting between the Somalian military and al-Shabab, an anti-government group.

The government of Sri Lanka declared "total victory" over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Members of the LTTE countered that leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe. According to the United Nations, an estimated 7,000 civilians have been killed in fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE since January.

Amnesty International's annual report expressed "serious concerns about the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of air strikes" by US/NATO forces in Afghanistan. The report also condemned Canada for the RCMP's use of Tasers, and the case of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who is detained at Guantanamo Bay.

David Kilcullen, former counter-terrorism adviser to the Bush administration, said that US Predator strikes on Pakistan should be stopped. “Since 2006 we’ve killed 14 senior al-Qaeda leaders using drone strikes; in the same time period we’ve killed 700 Pakistani civilians in the same area," he said.

The Independent revealed that the three highest-profile civilian massacres of the war in Afghanistan were committed by troops from the US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, which was created in 2005 on the orders of Donald Rumsfeld.

After a long debate in the House of Commons, Bill C-23, the legislation which represents the final step in the ratification of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, was withdrawn from the Order Paper by Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Solidarity, campesino and union groups in Canada and in Colombia have campaigned against the deal and consider the move a victory. Bill C-23 may be re-introduced in the fall.

US President Barack Obama was criticized for showing interest in proceeding with a Free Trade Agreement between the US and Panamá. Most of the more than 350,000 corporations based in Panamá do not carry out operations in the Central American country, which is one of the most notorious tax havens in the globe.

Canada, the US and other high-income countries opposed a treaty to protect the rights of the blind and reading disabled to access and share written material at the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization. "The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated text to speech, or large type," wrote James Love at the Huffington Post.

Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground who is now a university professor, was again denied entry to Canada. He was previously turned away at the border in January.

Mexico City blamed chronic water shortages on waste and over-consumption. The national water commission claimed that more than half the city's water is lost to outdated infrastructure and leaky pipes.

Activists in Victoria, BC, held a practice protest against a practice run of the Olympic Torch.

Goldcorp: No Consent, No Mine

Flics Assassins

A Letter from Kitigan Zibi

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:19:53 +0000

Mother addresses the public on police negligence in missing daughter's case

March 8, 2009

This letter was released to supporters on May 2, 2009 the date of the last organized ground search for Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander. Recipients of the letter have been encouraged to send it to their MPs.

To whom it may concern:

I write this letter to you as a concerned mother and citizen. I would like to bring to your attention several issues concerning the disappearance of my daughter, Maisy Odjick, and the manner in which the Kitigan Zibi Police Services (KZPS) and the Surete du Quebec (SQ) have handled this case. Since my daughter's disappearance, on September 6, 2008, to the present day, very little to nil support or communication has been provided by these police services. From the onset this lack has created a long, frustrating and exhausting six months for me and my family.

My 16-year-old daughter was not alone when she disappeared. She and her friend, Shannon Alexander (17 years old) were together. I am deeply concerned for Shannon's whereabouts, but out of respect for Shannon's father and family, I cannot nor am I speaking for her in this letter.

I am of the position that government authorities, agencies and the public need to be informed of the incompetent, unprofessional, uncooperative and unaccountable behaviour of police services, in particular, the KZPS. I, as a community member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg (KZA), am also unsatisfied with the Chief and Council's lack of leadership in directing concrete action and demanding accountability from the police. As you may appreciate, the disappearance of your child speaks volumes of worries, immense feelings of loss, isolation, heartache, mental anguish, and extreme emotional pain. I live with these emotions every minute of each day.

I demand my right to services, justice and support in locating my daughter. I have been exercising my rights all along. However, I feel as though I do not have the right to exercise my right to information concerning my minor daughter. For instance, when I called the SQ to speak to a police officer investigating the Shannon Alexander case, I was told to speak to the KZPS because the SQ did not have my file, and I am not related to Shannon. I understand the nature of confidentiality, however, where else can I turn for police information when in fact I receive no information from the KZPS? And, when I do receive any information from them, it is very skeletal and unprofessional in nature.

Furthermore, the police only provided information after much persistence on my part. My demand for reports is a very time consuming and overwhelming task. For example, since September 2008, I have received only one report. It took me two months, from December 2008 to February 2009, of constant requests to the KZA Chief and Council, and only recently have I received a report. This report is eight double-spaced pages in length with no letterhead or signature. It should be noted that in reading the report, I am left with the feeling that I did the police's job because they report on leads and sources that I provided to them. In the end, there is nothing substantial. Once again, I am left with many more questions, uncertainty and emptiness.

It must be noted that at the onset of Maisy and Shannon's disappearance, no thorough ground search or proper investigation was conducted. At this point, any evidence collected in September 2008 is damaged because the police who collected the evidence did not possess the expertise to do so. Furthermore, the families were not given any information on the results of evidence collected.

Very recently, a media source informed me that the SQ has evidence that indicates that the girls ran away. If this is true, why has not the KZPS or the band council informed me of this? If this is true, then is the file closed? If this is true, does this resolve my daughter's disappearance? What evidence was used to make this conclusion? What resources will be made available to find my daughter?

Since my daughter's disappearance, my inquiries and demands have not been answered in a respectful and satisfactory manner. I have been asking for an answer to two very simple but monumental questions: Why was my daughter's file transferred to the KZPS by the SQ? Who gave this order? I cannot help but feel that there is a cover up here.

I cannot understand why this occurred considering that Maisy was not on the reserve when she disappeared. On one hand, an argument can be made that the decision was made because of a jurisdictional issue. On the other hand, in a legal context, wherever the harm occurred determines who will deal with the matter. In my daughter's case, her disappearance is the harm, and the disappearance happened while she was off the reserve. Therefore, the SQ is the proper police authority to conduct the investigation and handle the case. I do not wish for my daughter to become a jurisdictional issue, nor to be immediately ruled as a 'runaway' teen. These are lame excuses used to negate the seriousness of the situation, to deny support and resources, to default on action, to discriminate and against me and my daughter, to refuse responsibility. This is unacceptable to me as a human being, a mother, a member of the community, and a citizen of society.

In essence, I feel that both the KZPS and KZA have applied the standard practice of blaming the victim. I am the victim, but to these entities, it is my fault that Maisy ran away; it is my fault that she disappeared; it is my fault that I waited too long to inform the police; it is my fault that I do not contact the police regularly by way of phone calls or station visits.

To write my daughter off as a 'runaway' or to treat her as promiscuous, and to treat me as the party at fault is abominable. I feel that justice is denied. A young girl is missing. My daughter deserves the same support and justice as any other missing person gets, for instance: Brendan Crisp, Ardeth Woods, Jennifer Teague.

It does not make sense that the KZPS and the KZA community leaders invested so much time, financial resources and media attention to locate a missing lion cub, but nothing is invested for our missing young girls. How much money was spent on finding Boomer, the baby lion? Maisy and Shannon are community members; they are also citizens of society and they deserve attention.

My daughter's return home or, the very least, to know what happened to her are my main priorities and it is with urgency that I call upon your office to assist me in acquiring from the SQ, KZPS and the KZA Chief and Council prompt, professional and unequivocal answers to all my inquiries; to obtain a full and proper investigation of Maisy's disappearance; and for the KZPS and KZA Chief and Council to be held accountable to me, my family and to the people for their inability to demonstrate due diligence and transparency with my daughter's case.

Should you like to discuss the contents of my letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at justiceformissing [at] gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from your office concerning the issues I raised in this letter. I thank you for your attention and kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Laurie Odjick

maisyshannon

Strangers Scour the Land

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:28:11 +0000

The search for Maisy and Shannon continues

KITIGAN ZIBI ANISHINABEG–Maisy Odjick, 17, and her friend Shannon Alexander, now 18, vanished from Shannon's father's apartment in Maniwaki, Quebec, September 6, 2008. Both are from Kitigan Zibi, an Algonquin reserve adjacent to Maniwaki. Since September, neither the Kitigan Zibi Police Services nor the Sûreté du Québec has collected any evidence pertaining to the whereabouts of the two girls. When Maisy and Shannon vanished, their wallets and their money were left behind. The police are not ruling out the possibility that the two girls are "runaways." In addition, the police have repeatedly neglected to communicate with and report back to the two families. The little media attention this case has attracted may be attributed to the constant and determined efforts at media outreach by Maisy's mother, Laurie Odjick.

The two ground searches since the disappearance - December 7, 2008, and May 2, 2009 - were led by Search and Rescue Global 1; both times the Odjick family was the main organizer. According to Search Leader Lawrence Conway, the search for Maisy and Shannon is the first family-organized search he has ever taken part in. Normally, the police call rescue teams and arrange searches.

Indigenous women in Canada are five times more likely than other women to die as the result of violence. The official number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada since 1980 is 520, two-thirds of whom were murdered and about one-quarter of whom are still missing. Roughly half of these murders and disappearances occurred in the last nine years and over 300 cases are as of yet unsolved. Indigenous grassroots activists and communities put the number of cases closer to 1800.

Amnesty International, the United Nations, and the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) have all put forth comprehensive recommendations to the Canadian government to address the violence and discrimination faced by Indigenous women, but so far no action has been taken beyond a small amount of funding allotted for research.

NWAC President Beverley Jacobs points out that even working with a number like 520, taken proportionately that "would equal 18,000 women among Canada's white population. If there were 18,000 white women missing and murdered, it would be headlines. There would be something done immediately."

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie is an independent journalist and Indigenous solidarity activist living in Montreal. Dru Oja Jay is an editor with The Dominion.

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May Books

Moira Peters — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:00:52 +0000

New work by Connolly, new release by Green

Revolver
Kevin Connolly
House of Anansi Press, 2008

It’s painful to admit, but poetry can be pretty predictable. This is especially true for Canadian poetry that gets nominated for major literary prizes. A reader can usually expect some variation of contemplative, lovelorn verses building up toward a climactic, self-realizing epiphany. Kevin Connolly, in his new Griffin Prize-nominated collection, Revolver, is refreshingly aware of these conventions without falling victim to them. Instead of adopting a lone voice to examine a set of well-trodden themes, Connolly pursues a gamut of unexplored poetic possibilities. Nearly every poem touches upon a different subject matter and engages a different structure. Connolly rejects the role of the poet as sullen narrator. Disarming as it is upon an initial reading, there is no unifying voice, tone, or narrative in this collection. This is a poet clearly enamoured with poetry itself, making verse out of whatever sparks his gushing imagination.

The risk, and maybe the downfall here, is that Connolly’s collection can feel more like an anthology than the work of a single author. From the goofy to the downright depressing, Connolly bounces between the extremities of inspiration without any segue or transition. You can almost hear Connolly's muse asking: How about a nature poem? A love poem? Got any about sports?

What first strikes you as plain novelty and quirkiness gradually becomes endearing as Connolly's many personalities all carve out original and gripping poems. From the start, the book opens with a table of contents that lists the names of vaguely familiar rock songs. A turn of the page reveals that these are not the actual titles of the poems at all. We're left guessing whether this was Connolly's soundtrack while writing the collection, or if it's a poetic collage on its own. Once the poems get started, we are given one poem that sounds like a graduate-school admission exam from hell, one that parodies the catechism, and another that is composed of a few columns of disconnected words under the heading “Three Sonnets (Assembly Required).”

Connolly's inspirations are spelled out explicitly in his notes, ranging from Mark Twain, contemporary American poets like Charles Simic, and the Welsh noise rock band Mclusky. After taking account of his sources and then reading the collection a few times, Connolly becomes strangely cohesive and coherent. Even as the poems clash stylistically, his reoccurring preoccupations provide a tiny modicum of unity that gives this eccentric and disparate collection its own vitality.

—Shane Patrick Murphy

Back
Henry Green
Dalkey Archive Press, 2009

Back, Henry Green’s 1946 novel of wartime homecoming, is loaded with enough individual suffering that it could almost take place on the battlefield from which its amputee-protagonist, Charley, has been salvaged.

Charley returns home to England to find that his pre-war sweetheart, Rose, has died in his absence, while her look-alike half-sister, Nancy, remains tortuously close at hand. The novel’s chief complication arises here, out of the sad fact that Charley’s wartime trauma and accompanying waves of self-preserving amnesia bar him from fully absorbing the news of Rose’s death. In meeting Nancy, Charley incorrectly assumes that he’s being reunited with his departed lover. Moreover, when Nancy rejects his affections, Charley descends into a confused turmoil, at one point enlisting the services of a handwriting expert to prove that the two sisters are one and the same.

Just as Green’s more touted masterpiece, Loving, documents the hermetic world of a tightly knit group of servants in a secluded Irish castle, Back bends around the wounded psyche of its protagonist with engrossing singularity. In one passage, the setting perfectly captures the muddled roiling of Charley’s simultaneous grief over Rose’s death and his hurt over Nancy’s persistent brush-offs.

He fled Rose, yet every place he went she rose up before him; in florists’ windows; in a second-hand bookseller’s with a set of Miss Rhoda Broughton, where, as he was staring for her reflection in the window, his eyes read a title, “Cometh up as a flower” which twisted his guts; also in a seed merchant’s front that displayed a watering can, to the spout of which was fixed an attachment, labelled ‘Carter’s patent Rose.’

Green emphasizes the inescapability of Rose’s memory by using the past tense of the verb “to rise” (“she rose up”) in the very sentence that introduces the ubiquity of her namesake. And amid Charley’s solipsistic bewilderment, Green the master stylist is out in full force. Beautiful, simile-laden descriptions like “[s]he was crying so much it made her face look like a pane of glass in the rain” crop up generously, appearing in scenes filled with Green’s meticulous simulation of English working-class speech.

Back is newly available from Dalkey Archive Press with a brilliant afterward by screenwriter and academic George Toles.

—Robert Kotyk

Shantytown, USA

dawn — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:39:38 +0000

Nickelsville residents demand permanent land for the homeless

NICKELSVILLE (RENTON), SEATTLE–"Thank God for Nickelsville." That's how two women living at the site summed up their feelings towards the "permanent homeless shantytown" currently set up in the side lot of the Bryn Mawr United Methodist Church in northeast Seattle, WA, USA.

Its existence has provided a safe place to people who would otherwise have nowhere to live, allowing residents to "provide for themselves a basic level of safety and sanitation when their government steadfastly refuses to do so for them," according to the Nickelsville website.

Nickelsville got its start on city property on September 22, 2008, in response to a lack of city action in response to growing of homelessness. Days later, the site was raided by police, and 22 people were arrested. Nickelsville has moved five times since it was founded.

Every so often, residents of Nickelsville, who call themselves Nickelodeons, have to pack up and move. The City of Seattle sets time limits for how long Nickelodeons are allowed to stay in one place. Nickelsville has been located in Renton since March 5, and residents will be forced to move on June 5.

Residents of Nickelsville are working to secure a permanent site where long-term housing for 1,000 people can be built.

Nickelsville IIX

Nickelsville VII

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Nickelsville III

Nickelsville II

Nickelsville IV

Nickelsville V

Nickelsville IX

May in Review, Part I

dawn — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:18:47 +0000

Toxic spills, police raids, and Canwest gets more time, prints fewer papers

Mohawk people on both sides of the 49th parallel protested the federal government's decision to arm border guards with guns, temporarily shutting down the border at the US Port of Entry at Massena, near Cornwall, Ontario. On June 1, border guards there will be equipped with 9mm Beretta Px4 Storm guns. According to government plans, all 6,000 Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents along the Canada-US border will be armed by 2016. May 1 is significant because on that day in 1899 Saiowisakeron, a Mohawk leader, was killed by Dominion of Canada Police for protesting attempts by the federal government to control Mohawk governance.

CBSA border agents and police with dogs raided Mohamed Harkat's house in Toronto. Harkat was arrested in 2002 and spent 43 months in jail without charge. The cops rifled through the personal belongings of the Harkat family and confiscated notebooks. Harkat's wife Sophie called the raid "the second-worst day of my life, after Mo's arrest."

Over 2,000 people mobilized in the streets of Toronto, demanding legal status for all in response to April raids on migrant workers in Ontario. "We occupied the Yonge and Dundas intersection in the heart of downtown Toronto to make visible the non-status people that this sweatshop city wants to hide away," reads a statement by No One Is Illegal Toronto, which organized the demonstration.

Thousands of Tamils and their allies continued months of sustained demonstrations and took over a highway in Toronto to demand that Canada intervene in the ongoing war in Sri Lanka. Over the last two weeks, at least 378 civilians were killed and over 1,200 wounded by government shelling in a so called "no-fire" zone. A hospital was also shelled, killing at least 50 people.

Kitigan-Zibi police found bones near Maniwaki, Ontario, which were sent to a lab to determine whether or not they are human. Maisy Odjick, 17, and Shannon Alexander, 18, have been missing from the area since September 5, 2008, and searches for the two girls continue.

A leak in a storage tank at the Kinder Morgan oil plant caused more than 200,000 litres of crude oil to spill near a residential area in Burnaby, BC. Residents who live near the oil plant smelled an odor, but were not informed by the company of what had happened. It is the second time in less than two years that Kinder Morgan has caused an oil spill in Burnaby. The company is currently planning to expand pipeline capacity to carry more crude oil from the Athabasca tar sands.

Indigenous people including Winona LeDuke, former Presidential candidate, along with former members of the American Indian Movement, declared that they are opposed to a series of new 458km pipelines proposed by Enbridge. The pipelines, which would run through 13 counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, would carry oil from the Athabasca tar sands, and return an oil thinner to Alberta for reuse. Enbridge hopes to begin construction this summer.

The European Union signed an agreement with Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey and Georgia, for a new natural gas pipeline, expected to reduce Europe's reliance on Russia. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan did not sign on to the proposed 3,300 km Nabucco pipeline.

Toxic sludge from Canadian miner Barrick Gold's North Mara mine in Tanzania spilled into River Thigithe which flows into the Mara River. According to Tanzanian journalist Evans Rubara, "When such toxic wastes flow into River Mara (Kirumi) then the whole of East Africa, parts of Central Africa and parts of Africa where River Nile flows also may stand some danger." Meanwhile, people are reportedly organizing to take samples of the water and dead fish for testing.

Mexican police raided a peaceful occupation of a Canadian-owned mine site in Oaxaca, Mexico. Villagers had been blockading the mine because they were not adequately consulted about exploration activities in the area, which are being carried out by Fortuna Silver.

A group of protestors made themselves visible at a Federal Environment Committee meeting held in Calgary, hoisting a large banner with helium ballons that read, “Water Is Life. Protect Inherent Treaty And Human Rights.”

Evidence surfaced that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among the first American officials briefed about "enhanced interrogation techniques" in 2002. Pelosi, a Democrat, had claimed that she did not know about torture used by the Bush administration.

US airstrikes in Afghanistan killed at least 149 people in Farah. An Afghan human rights organization accused the US of using phosphorus bombs, which the US denied.

US budget allocations for the war in Afghanistan surpassed those for the war in Iraq for the first time since Iraq was invaded in 2003.

The Senate of Illinois passed a resolution against the war in Afghanistan. "The Senate believes that it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Afghanistan," reads part of the resolution.

Canadian forces withdrew from Mushan, west of Kandahar. "Canadian and Afghan soldiers did not bring peace into the area where we are living," a villager of Mushan told the Canwest News Service.

The Canadian forces also declared that they are prepared for Swine Flu in Afghanistan. According to the Canadian Press, "the only known pig in Afghanistan, a predominantly Muslim country, was quarantined recently at a zoo in Kabul."

Two hundred thousand people were displaced in Pakistan during an army assault on militants in the Swat Valley. "The army is now engaged in a full-scale operation to eliminate miscreants," said military spokesman Gen Athar Abbas. Over half a million people had previously been displaced from the region, which is close to the border with Afghanistan.

Eleven people were arrested near Fort Lewis in Washington as they blockaded armored personnel carriers from traveling to the Port of Tacoma, from where they would eventually deploy to Afghanistan. "Our goal is to raise the economic cost of these military shipments, to the point where no port is willing to take them," said Shyam Khanna, an activist with Port Militarization Resistance.

Hundreds of laid-off Belgian and French workers stormed ArcelorMittal's annual general meeting in Luxemburg. The steel company announced that they will lay off over a thousand workers in the US.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that firms that provide services to the country's oil industry will be nationalized. The BBC estimates that the nationalizations will affect 300 boats, several ports and approximately 8,000 oil workers.

A prominent Guatemalan lawyer posthumously accused Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom of his murder on a videotape. The lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, was shot while riding his bicycle. Colom has called for an investigation of the murder by the UN and the FBI. According to the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), rumours of a coup d'état circulate as the potential for violence between the president's supporters and opposition grows.

Indigenous communities in Ixcán, Quiché, in Guatemala, celebrated the second anniversary of their consulta (referendum) regarding natural resource use with a sacred morning ceremony at the site of the planned Xalalá dam.

The government of Cuba unexpectedly pulled the plug on an official Canadian diplomatic mission led by junior foreign minister Peter Kent. The reason the visit was canceled is unknown.

The Bilderberg group met in Vouliagmeni, Greece. The Bilderberg group consists of about 140 rich and powerful people who hold secret meetings annually.

Documents emerged which proved that Trafigura, a British oil company, dumped nearly two tonnes of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. A class action lawsuit against the company in Britain is ongoing, brought by more than 30,000 people from the Ivory Coast. (Given the current federal legal framework, this type of legal action would not be possible against a Canadian company today.

BC voters went to the polls in record low numbers, electing Gordon Cambpell and the BC Liberals to their third four-year term. Half of eligible voters cast their votes, leading to speculation that fixed election date voting during the Stanley Cup Playoffs was responsible for the low turnout. A referendum on changing the first past the post voting system to a Single Transferable Vote system failed to win a majority of votes.

Vancouver City Council voted to convert one lane of car traffic to accommodate cyclists on the Burrard Street bridge. It was the first time that Mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vision Vancouver city council moved to take car space away for bicycles.

Hundreds of people converged at the Federal Liberal Convention in Vancouver to protest the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. “If [the Liberals] allow this deal to pass, it'll be even harder to tell them apart from the Conservatives,” said Micheál Ó Tuathail, member of Vancouver-based Colombia solidarity group La Chiva.

The Obama administration announced they are planning to pass a Free Trade Agreement between the US and Panama. The deal was negotiated during the Bush Administration, and in addition to being a NAFTA-style deal, has been criticized due to Panama's status as a tax shelter.

Canwest Global Communications Corp, one of Canada's largest media corporations, received a two week extension from their lender on a $30.4 million interest payment. Canwest is currently carrying a debt of $3.9 billion. The company announced that the Monday edition of their flagship paper, The National Post, would not be printed for nine weeks during the summer.

Stop the War at Home, Stop the War abroad

Water is Life!

The Right to Whale

Moira Peters — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:32:28 +0000

First Nations encounter barriers to traditional whaling

TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF SNUNEYMUXW FIRST NATION (NANAIMO, B.C.)-On the Pacific Northwest coast, the nations of the Makah in Washington State and Nuu-chah-nulth on western Vancouver Island are struggling to engage once again with their heritage of whaling, which was suspended decades ago due to depleted whale populations.

On March 19, University of Washington American Indian Studies Professor Charlotte Coté was in Nanaimo to present a lecture entitled, “The Cultural, Societal, Spiritual and Dietary Importance of Putting Whales back on Our Dinner Tables: The Revitalization of Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Whaling.”

Whaling, said Coté, is central to the identity of the Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth; it appears in their storytelling, art, and songs, and was also an essential part of their diet. The Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth are trying to reconnect with their traditional lifeways and the resumption of sustainable whaling is considered an important part of this.

Public opposition to hunting is strong for an iconic species such as whales. Moreover, the Makah face legal and bureaucratic barriers in the United States. In Canada, the Makah kinfolk—the Nuu-chah-nulth&mdashface lengthy treaty negotiations.

Article 4 of the 1885 Treaty of Neah Bay secured the right for the Makah (who call themselves Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx: “The people who live by the rocks and seagulls”) to catch salmon, and hunt whales and seals. For this right and money, the treaty holds that the Makah relinquished “their right, title, and interest in” about 121,000 timbered hectares of Olympic Peninsula land in what is now Washington State.

Coté explained that the smallpox-decimated Makah Nation had little choice but to sign the treaty “to protect what they could protect.”

But even what was "protected" is now under threat.

Gray whales were plentiful before “Yankee whalers” decimated the stocks, says Coté. In 1937, the US banned gray whale hunting and in 1972, the gray whale was placed on the endangered species list.

The Makah and the Nuu-chah-nulth honoured the ban on whaling.

Coté said the number of gray whales had dropped to 1,500, but now about 24,000 ply the Pacific coastline. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (FOC) states the gray whale population peaked in 1998 at 27,000. Up to one-third died from a food shortage between 1998 and 2002, but the population has since stabilized and is possibly growing, according to FOC.

After the gray whale was removed from the endangered species list in 1994, the Makah were given permission from the International Whaling Commission to hunt 20 gray whales (a maximum of five per year) until 2004.

In May 1999, a 9-metre gray whale gave itself to the Makah. Coté explained that in the Indigenous parlance and belief system, they do not kill creatures; rather the creatures give themselves to the people.

The taking of the gray whale was a major cultural event and the Makah community shared its meat. Eating whale, says Coté, is “an example of self-determination"; it’s important for both the cultural health of the community and the physical health of many Indigenous peoples, she said.

“Canada takes approximately 1,000 whales per year for food," said Kathy Happynook, author of Whaling around the World and Whaling for Food. This is hunting solely by Indigenous peoples.

Happynook, of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, noted that whaling has a long tradition among many Indigenous peoples in Canada: “[The Canadian government] pulled out of the International Whaling Commission in 1982 in order to protect the Inuit’s right to hunt whales. Until recently, Canada was one of the largest whaling nations in the world[in terms of the number of whales killed each year]. More than 50 communities still hunt whales in Canada.”

Not all First Nations in Canada are able to whale, however. The federal government has prolonged the whaling moratorium in the Maa-nulth (“villages along the coast”) Agreement—despite the gray whale population having reached a size where sustainable hunting can occur.

The Maa-nulth Agreement is a six-stage treaty negotiation process that started in 1994 to address First Nations aspirations and Indigenous rights to self-governance, which were recognized and affirmed under the 1982 Constitution Act. It involves the B.C. provincial government, the federal government and five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations whose communities approved the draft Agreement in Principle: Huu-ay-aht First Nation, Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h First Nation, Toquaht Nation, Uchucklesaht Tribe and Ucluelet First Nation. The treaty, signed by the Maa-nulth First Nations and the B.C. provincial government on April 9, 2009, still awaits federal government ratification.

Whaling was dropped from the Maa-nulth Agreement language in 2006; however, there was a side-agreement where the Maa-nulth First Nations agreed, for 25 years effective from date of the treaty, to hold off exercising their traditional right to hunt gray whales and sei whales in return for other benefits. Kathy Happynook explained, "That was the only way Maa-nulth could get grey and sei whales in the [side-] agreement."

The side-agreement acknowledges the Maa-nulth First Nations to be "historic whaling nations" with the right to harvest Fish for domestic purposes. The definition of fish includes marine animals. Moreover, it was stated that, "The grey and sei whales have recovered from industrial exploitation and are no longer considered by Canada to be endangered species" and the "Maa-nulth First Nations have the ability to propose an allocation for harvest of grey and sei whales in an annual fishing plan."

Hereditary Huu-ay-aht Chief Tom Mexsis Happynook, grandson of a whaler and supporter of Indigenous rights, was pleased that the right to future whaling is preserved by the side-agreement, despite the fact that traditional whaling by the Nuu-chah-nulth people will not be possible for some decades to come.

For the Makah in the US, their treaty right remains, but court cases have kept exercising that right in abeyance.

In Anderson v. Evans (2004), the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Makah Nation must obtain a waiver from government regulatory bodies if they wish to whale. The Makah have applied for a waiver and await a decision.

According to the Makah Whaling Commission, the whaling is to be conducted humanely and is to be non-commercial, with meat being shared among all people in the Makah Nation. Moreover, the Makah Whaling Commission stated, “We will only permit whaling if there is an unmet traditional subsistence or cultural need for whale in the community.”

The Makah Nation seeks understanding in their quest to hold onto their culture and way of life: “We ask the public to remember that throughout the history of the United States there has been a sad record of intolerance of Indian culture. We hope that thoughtful Americans will ask themselves whether they can and should respect the efforts of a small Tribe which is trying to preserve its culture in ways that are consistent with the conservation of natural resources.”

Kim Petersen is Original Peoples Editor for The Dominion.

Makah Whaling

Kenney's Quiet Revolution

Moira Peters — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:14:34 +0000

Media focus on guns, drugs and hard-nosed ministers precludes dialogue on government shifts in immigration policy

MONTREAL–A massive police operation in the Toronto area on April 1 caught the attention of major Canadian news outlets.

One hundred and twenty-five people were rounded up in a pre-dawn raid and charged with arms, drugs and organized crime-related violations. The arrests made top headlines across national media and were featured in most large metropolitan dailies.

A day later, another police operation in Ontario resulted in the arrest of nearly as many people, but hardly a word was written about it.

On April 2, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers and southern Ontario police officers arrested approximately 80 people on immigration violations.

While not as sensational as the first news item—which nabbed some 30,000 tablets of ecstasy and 40 firearms—the story contained much of the same interest, drama and newsworthiness: one hundred officers arrested undocumented workers at their places of employment and homes in at least three communities in Southern Ontario. And, according to the CBSA, it was the largest action of its kind in the Greater Toronto Area.

The April 2 raids received next-day coverage in small-circulation local papers like the Barrie Examiner. Not a word was mentioned in the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail or National Post. CTV.ca and the Edmonton Journal eventually picked up on the story, but only several days later, when dozens of people gathered in Toronto and Edmonton (and other cities) to protest the raids and the workers' incarceration.

The Toronto rally was held outside the Rexdale Detention Centre, where those arrested were being held. The individuals were all living or working in the communities of Bradford, Markham, Leamington and East Toronto. Most were apprehended at their workplaces; some were reportedly followed home from work and then arrested. Most were migrant farm workers, employed by at least three companies, including two farms owned by Cericola Farms, Inc.

The raids come at a time when Canadians are questioning subtle but important changes in the Conservative government's immigration policy and in the CBSA's tactics when arresting undocumented individuals. Just as concerning, critical coverage of this event—and recent immigration policy issues in general—has been lacking in the Canadian press.

A recent report by Citizenship and Immigration Canada says that over the past year, crackdowns on illegal immigration in the United States is causing thousands of non-status immigrants to flood across the border to Canada. Last May, then-Minister of Public Security Stockwell Day applauded the arrest of 45 undocumented workers in Toronto and declared that "[large-scale operations protect] the integrity of our immigration program," signalling the government's intent to continue on this path.

Spokespeople from No One Is Illegal (NOII) Toronto and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) denounced the April 2 raids. "Clearly Harper and his Minister of Immigration are moving closer to a US-style immigration system where fear and enforcement are routinely used to terrorize migrant workers," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. Both spokespeople expressed concern that large-scale raids on workplaces targeting undocumented workers have become regular occurrences.

In a release from the CBSA, no reason was given for the timing of the raids, simply that they came after three months of investigations. While this is the first police action of its scope in the area, in a report on the event NOII quoted several sources stating that this is not an isolated incident.

The Toronto Star recently ran an investigative piece on problems in Canada's home-care worker program, where individuals, particularly women, are incited to immigrate to Canada to work as domestic workers, only to find themselves labouring in extremely difficult and constrained conditions. The Globe and Mail recently reported that an immigration officer impersonated an individual's lawyer and lured him to a meeting before arresting him on immigration violation charges. The fact that nearly 80 undocumented workers were arrested in the largest raid of its kind in Canada's history and that the event was overlooked in news outlets is surprising. After all, both the Star and the Globe demonstrate a willingness to report to some degree on immigration issues.

But their commitment to these issues is disappointing. By declining to cover the April 2 raids, they shied away from deeper questions about Canadian government policy in dealing with undocumented workers.

Neither the Sun Media nor CanWest Global news chains covered the massive arrests in-depth, and recent articles—particularly in CanWest newspapers—raise questions about what Canadians can expect from immigration news coverage in the months to come.

CanWest papers recently ran an article highlighting the toughness and work ethic of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in his push to bring about an immigration policy revolution—without asking what that revolution might be. What they did highlight was that the government is continuing to use outreach policies, such as funds for immigrant communities to draw on to build statues and plaques.

According to NOII, the government has also given misinformation to the press: recently, as reported in CanWest, Conservative candidate Parm Gill claimed the government is aiming to reduce the number of rejected applications from Indian youth. New information reported by NOII and researched by the Canadian Migration Institute found that the number of refugees to be accepted from India is in fact slated to drop from 150 to 125 this year. And nowhere to be found in the article on Kenney was the news, reported by the Toronto Star in February, that the immigration ministry had admitted the economic downturn could reduce the number of immigrants accepted to Canada, all the while trumpeting a planned increase in immigration from 250,000 to 265,000 newcomers per year.

Tim McSorley is Media Analysis editor with The Dominion.

access not fear

good enough to work

Police Raid Communities around Trinidad Mine

dawn — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:01:20 +0000

Oaxacan civilians blockade road, occupy mine to keep Fortuna off their land

SAN JOSÉ DEL PROGRESO, OAXACA–Early on the morning of May 6, a helicopter was spotted flying low near the Canadian-owned Trinidad Mine in San José del Progreso, Mexico. In the hours following, approximately 150 trucks filled with between 740 and 2,500 police arrived at the mine site.

The silver mine has been peacefully blockaded by community members since March 16.

Fear of environmental contamination and dwindling water resources are motivating the nearly two-month-long permanent civilian occupation of the mine and all its installations. Neither the Mexican government nor Fortuna Silver, the mine's operator, was able to reach an agreement with protesters, so police were sent in to clear the blockade.

An urgent action issued yesterday by Comité de Defensa de Los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP) describes how "twenty-five hundred members of the federal police, AFI, judicial police, and the bomb corps entered the mine with a wealth of weapons: using tear gas, shots from various types of firearms, police dogs, savagely beating the people, and searching the homes of the people who were peacefully guarding access to the mine."

Eye-witnesses estimate that there were 150 people from the community blocking the mine when the police arrived.

During the raid, police began arbitrarily entering and searching homes, as well as confiscating personal possessions in the community of Magdalena, and in the municipality San José del Progreso. They were also arresting people randomly on the streets.

At least 23 people—possibly as many as 28—were detained. Two people, and likely several more, are missing. As of May 7, the state had released 19 people, while at least four remain incarcerated.

“We are struggling for our lives and we are defending our territory; the territory where we were born, raised, lived and will probably die," said one resident from the community of Magdalena, Ocotlán. "We sometimes forget that we poor people have the right to life; that we poor people can also defend all that we have.”

Environmental concerns are at the forefront of the protests led by Indigenous Zapotec people against Fortuna.

Independent laboratory tests by Sanica, a clinical analysis laboratory, confirmed the presence of cyanide, mercury, arsenic and lead contamination in regional water supplies stemming from activities at Trinidad and other local mines.

Reports of the deaths of at least 20 head of cattle in the last three months have provoked outrage among residents.

They are also concerned with the mine’s massive water demands.

“All the water that is at the bottom is water that the company moved down to be able to work at the lowest levels of the mine," said one local farmer. "Now all the water is contaminated with different heavy metals and it’s coming up to contaminate soil on the surface."

During the first stage of exploration, the water table had already dropped noticeably.

The primary mine shaft, which has been mined since colonial times, is estimated to be a few kilometres deep. Rising water levels inside the mine currently only permit access to 960 metres.

In response to the environmental effects that are starting to manifest after only three years of exploration, the residents of San José del Progreso held a community assembly on March 14. There, the community decided they wanted the mining company to leave.

According to Ríos Cruz, a resident of nearby Ocotlán and a member of CODEP: “Our objective is the cancellation of the project and the outright refusal from every one of the communities: a 'No' to mining." Cruz has since been disappeared, according to his family.

"All the authorities—state, federal and some municipal—are delivering our homeland, our soil, our land to the companies, but we can’t give the land away. It is our children’s and we are simply taking care of it for the moment,” said Cruz.

Local authorities, most notably Mayor Venancio Oscar Martínez Rivera, Quintín Vásquez Rosario and the head of the commission that administers the ejido, stood opposed to the decision of the people, going as far as to threaten them if they dared take action against the mine.

Residents who attended a meeting with authorities on March 24 allege that the mayor used a gun to threaten members of the Co-ordination in Defense of the Natural Resources and Our Mother Earth, a group formed earlier in the year to organize resistance to the mine.

El Imparcial, a local newspaper, reported that the local officials are being paid by the company to maintain their support and that the mining company has armed paramilitary groups to intimidate people who oppose the project.

Regardless of these tactics, people decided to blockade the mine site. Days after the closing of the mine, several trucks filled with soldiers arrived at the mine site.

When the people refused to give entry to the army, soldiers began to provoke and threaten them. When the army did gain access to the site, they proceeded to remove more than 30 tons of explosive material from the tunnels. This shocked local residents and generated more questions about the safety and environmental impacts of that quantity of explosives.

A month into the occupation of the mine, the members of San José del Progreso and neighbouring communities Maguey Largo and Magdalena, among several others, decided to shut down a federal highway between the capital city of Oaxaca and the coastal town of Puerto Ángel.

They entered the highway in the early hours of April 20 and declared that they would not lift the blockade until the authorities responded to their demands.

The following day, at least nine trucks of riot police and one truck of soldiers arrived to oust blockaders. An agreement was reached to end the road blockades in exchange for negotiations with the state government, which have thus far not borne fruit.

Prior to the May 6 raid on the mine site, there were reports of harassment and threats by police against people resisting the mine. Cruz was among those threatened by police.

****

Fortuna Silver has responded with demands that the government protect their nearly $30-million worth of investments in the mine.

The company, through its fully owned subsidiary Cuzcatlán, holds dozens of concessions that cover tens of thousands of hectares of land. (The average farmer in Ocotlán owns less than 5 hectares.)

Simon Ridgway, a Canadian citizen and the chairperson of Fortuna Silver, has also worked for Glamis Gold and Radius Gold. Ridgway left Honduras in 2000 after the Special Prosecutor’s Office on the Environment issued a warrant for his arrest, related to Glamis Gold's charges for crimes that included water usurpation, aggravated damages, forest crimes and disobedience to authority. The warrant against Ridgway was never executed.

In a press conference in late April, Canadian trade and environmental officials Paul Connors and Paula Caldwell St. Onge said the Canadian government embraces corporate social responsibility and that Canadian companies in Mexico respect that position. They also indicated that Trinidad Mine could be in production within a year.

At the same press conference, Mexican government officials went on to deny reports that the water around Trinidad is contaminated or that any animals have died as a result.

Protests that shut down the mine were dismissed as "a media stunt by people that are certainly trying to obtain benefits," according to Joaquín Rodríguez Palacios, sub-secretary to Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the controversial Governor of Oaxaca. "It's a small group, we all know it, who have a protagonistic attitude."

When this article went to press, Trinidad Mine was still occupied by police forces and had yet to recommence operations.

Click here for videos and updates about the repression in Ocotlán.

Komala Ramachandra is a law student at Harvard who has been working in Oaxaca for the last seven months.

Highway Blockades

Fuera Minas Asesinas!

Political and Chemical Blowback

hillarybain — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:26:24 +0000

How the Canadian government poisoned rural New Brunswick

VANCOUVER–The term ‘blowback’ has two definitions. One is environmental, the other political; both come with a human cost. Blowback happens when chemicals sprayed in the air catch wind currents, blow back towards those doing the spraying and fall on homes, farms and people. Blowback also describes the unintended adverse results of a political action or situation. Chris Arsenault documents how these dual forms of blowback met in rural New Brunswick in his first book Blowback: A Canadian History of Agent Orange and the War at Home.

Blowback documents the irresponsibility of the Canadian government as it pursued a decades-long campaign to spray small town and rural New Brunswick with more than a million litres of Agent Orange, considered one of the deadliest synthetic chemicals known to humankind.

From 1956 to 1984, the military and its private contractors showered more than 1.3 million litres of toxic defoliant on and around the Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, including the town of Enniskillen and its several hundred residents. The reason for spraying was simple: to defoliate trees and brush to make space for acres of training ground and shooting ranges at the base, writes Arsenault.

Arsenault is unabashedly critical of Canadian military neglect, which he describes as deliberate, and has choice words about the systemic defoliation at Gagetown:

…partially a story of inaction, ignorance incompetence and laziness: contract supervisors who didn’t follow safety labels; military personnel who buried improperly sealed barrels of toxin in random locations; aerial sprayers who missed their targets, destroying crops and swaths of land; and power companies who decided spraying dioxin was a cheaper way to clear brush from electrical lines than hiring workers with saws and axes.

Spraying was also used on the land because the topography and foliage simulated conditions in Vietnam. “Of all possible North American test sites,” Arsenault outlines, “it had the terrain most like Vietnam.”

Arsenault uses facts gleaned from Freedom of Information requests, primary sources and interviews to condemn the Canadian government for its complicity in using chemicals against its own people at a concentration higher than the US sprayed in Southeast Asia.

Agent Orange gained infamy when the US used it during the Vietnam War, resulting in serious health consequences for multiple generations of Vietnamese.

In his opening passages, Arsenault outlines similar consequences in New Brunswick, including a resident of Enniskillen who had 11 tumours removed from her body.

One of the most galling examples of private traumas endured by those spraying and being sprayed with the toxic defoliant is that of Ken Dobbie. As a teenager in 1966, he handled Agent Orange with his bare hands while on a six-week contract to strip the bush. Now suffering from a host of neurological and blood disorders, Dobbie told Arsenault, “We were told this stuff was safe enough to drink.” Dobbie is now a leading plaintiff in a lawsuit against the federal government.

In 115 pages, Arsenault has compiled a history of Agent Orange in Canada that includes both insight and humour. From the first internal memo to the NDP politician in the 1980s to the press exposés and to the largest class-action lawsuit in US history, Blowback is compelling reading for every Canadian who wants to know more about the wizard behind the curtain. The author's research unearths years of military paper trails and includes extensive interviews with past Gagetown military personnel, labourers contracted to spray, and rural New Brunswick residents.

With dozens of footnotes per chapter, the passages can seem textbook-like. The stories he relates about the individuals most impacted by spraying—like Paul and Cora Thompson, who can’t have children, and Marilyn Kissinger, whose brother and teenage friends died en masse—are haunting and unforgettable, but also underdeveloped. Arsenault seems to have established the trust of one-time Gagetown infantry and past Enniskillen residents. He does each one justice, but would do the reader a favour by indulging a narrative style to heighten memories, loss and sacrifice. However, he does corroborate first-person accounts with documented information, enhancing one through the use of the other.

The war at home, Arsenault writes, is not for mere poetic effect or political rhetoric. No, the history of Agent Orange in Canada is about the war coming home and being waged against Canadians. What citizens finally realized, and what spurred them to mobilize, writes Arsenault, is that they have the justification and agency to blow back against the government and military that poisoned them.

Megan Stewart is a Vancouver-based journalist.

Blowback