The Dominion - Fredericton

"The River Always Wins"

JustinL — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:04:44 +0000

1,500 take to the streets in Fredericton to oppose fracking.

FREDERICTON—Over 1,500 people from across New Brunswick and beyond marched through Fredericton on August 1 to demand an end to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and shale gas exploration in the province. Concern over the effects that fracking may have on the province's water, for this generation and for those to come, brought out strong representation from the province's English, French, and First Nations communities.

The march wound its way through town, finishing at the Legislative Assembly, where a range of speakers addressed the peaceful but incensed crowd.

"The Wabanaki people are not here to celebrate New Brunswick today," said Alma, a representative of the Wabanaki Confederacy. "To me New Brunswick is just a government, nothing more. You see the flag flying up there?" she said, referencing the the Legislative Assembly where the provincial flag had been replaced by the Mohawk warrior flag. "That speaks the truth."

Central to the growing concern over fracking in New Brunswick is the province's newly-hatched, and largely one-sided, partnership with South Western Energy (SWN). SWN is not the only company looking to frack in New Brunswick, but the magnitude and scope of the Texas/Arkansas-headquartered company has the locals worried. Thanks to a March 2010 deal with the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, SWN holds exclusive license to explore 2,518,518 "net undeveloped acres" of New Brunswick. "Net undeveloped acres" is corporate jargon for "nature."

In return, SWN has promised to invest $47 million into the province over the next three years. While that might seem like a large amount, the untold millions in gas royalties that stand to flow out of the province make it look like small peanuts. As well, the very real potential for environmental disaster is difficult, if not impossible, to put into monetary terms.

Of course, there is always the perrenial promise of job creation in exchange for resource extraction. But Derek Telasco, for one, sees this as a low-hanging fruit not even worth picking.

"People are saying there's jobs," says Telasco, co-founder of Ban Fracking NB. "Like we're going to get these jobs here. First of all...we don't have the infrastructure for drilling like they do in Texas, Arkansas or Pensylvania...this is a new industry here, so what kind of jobs are going to be here? We don't have the people trained. You're going to get low-end, sweeper jobs, and clean-up crew. You'll be out there with a mop picking up the mess underneath, leaking. We're going to sell out our grandchildren's future in this province, we're going to take that kind of risk with our water?"

On June 23, 2011, the provincial government, in an attempt to placate the masses—and perhaps to save itself from being on the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit—unveiled a framework of regulations for potential frackers in the province. Judging by yesterday's turnout, the crowd was less than satistfied by Department of Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup and said regulations.

Northrup's regulations call for baseline testing for wells in close proximity to fracking sites, disclosure of the chemicals used when fracking and security bonds for potential household damage due to fracking. SWN, it should be mentioned, is currently facing, and has faced, class-action lawsuits in Arkansas and Pennsylvania. When dealing with the hundreds of millions in profits, however, security bonds for damaged households in New Brunswick are most likely acceptable losses to a company with the girth of SWN. It should also be mentioned that as natural gas prices continue to fall worldwide, SWN will most likely be continuing on an aggressive production schedule.

Telasco, for his part, fears the New Brunswick government is eager to move forward on this, attempting to get their fracking dreams off the ground before the public can catch on to the risks involved. The question of clean water is understandably an emotional one and public reaction across the province has at times been heated.

"My concern is that there's a number of issues that we're fighting against in New Brunswick." says Telasco. "One is a 25 per cent illiteracy rate. [SWN is] not fracking right now, they're seismic testing. And [the people are] getting really scared. What I'm worried about is that somebody is going to go too far and somebody's going to get shot. In my opinion we can't lose that moral high ground that we have by having a non-violent means of protest. When there's fracking trucks, we don't have to go and vandalize the fracking trucks."

Atlantic Canada's public concern over fracking is not limited to New Brunswick. Solidarity rallies were also held in Nova Scotia communities Inverness, Baddeck, and Truro; Charlottetown, PEI; and St. John's, Newfoundland. Indeed, as Hazel Richardson of the Sierra Club of Canada pointed out, many in the Atlantic region of Canada have been affected by fracking. It was recently revealed that the Nova Scotia-based Debert Waste Water Facility, owned by Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS), currently handles fracking wastewater from New Brunswick. While AIS representatives have assured the public that they are operating within their guidelines in handling fracking wastewater, this news was disconcerting to many, especially in light of the fact that Nova Scotia is undergoing its own environmental assessment of hydraulic fracking.

"There is a saying," says Richardson. "In a battle between the river and the rock, the river always wins. Not because it's stronger, but because it perseveres. The rock we face seems mountainous. The mining companies have deep pockets, and the government of our province seems so keen to snatch financial crumbs from the company plate that it is rushing into action that is threatening our land, the wildlife, and ourselves. All of Atlantic Canada has been or is being negatively impacted by hydraulic fracturing. Together Atlantic Canadians stand and say 'No to Shale Gas.'"

RebELLEs Give Oppression the Boot

Moira Peters — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:19:02 +0000

New Brunswick gumbooters troupe give feminist education a kick

FREDERICTON—There are many uses for rubber boots. The obvious ones are to keep your feet dry when it rains or to keep them clean while doing yard work. Some people use them as flower pots. But the Fredericton-based NB RebELLEs are using their boots to challenge capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and all other oppression that plagues our society. They are feminist; they are synchronized; and—oppressors beware!—they will call you out to the catchy rhythm of stomping and boot-slapping.

As any of the gumbooting RebELLEs would explain, gumbooting as a dance is only a fraction of what they do.

“If you wanted a sterile description of gumbooting, it is stomping, slapping and clapping; but it is so much more than those mechanics. The richness comes from the symbolic value of its history, and its use as a tool of communication and resistance,” stated Carolyn*, one of the troupe’s gumbooters.

Gumbooting started in the mines of South Africa when slaves were given rubber boots because it was cheaper than draining water out of the mines. The slaves, working in the dark, were forbidden to talk to each other. In defiance of the slave-owners they developed a language by stomping and slapping their boots. The practice evolved out of the mines, and is now used in a spirit of celebration. The RebELLEs have appropriated the medium—originally a resistance to oppression, now an art form—to further the feminist struggle.

The NB RebELLEs were born out of the national "Waves of Resistance" Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering in Montreal in 2008. They weave parts of the gathering's manifesto between bursts of percussive dance to make a stance on issues of oppression, such as the historical and ongoing colonial policies Canada embraces.

Rise against colonialism!
Down with governments that use force and intimidation to impose conformity, limit choice and reinforce the status quo.
We resist the discrimination against Muslims and Middle Eastern people, and all forms of racial profiling.
We stand in solidarity with families and communities of missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
All over Canada, stolen native land continues to be developed illegally and for profit while the government fails to uphold treaty rights.

The RebELLEs' performances outline their vision of communities committed to eradicating violence, building solidarity and developing institutions that promote justice, peace and equality.

These are big ideas, but by using the dance as a vehicle for their message, they are able to reach a wide audience.

“Gumbooting is so accessible and draws people in. We’ve been at events where everyone seemed hostile and we weren’t even sure if they were going to clap,” said Carolyn. “But we've had people come to us at the end and tell us that they had never thought of these issues. We once had a man tell us: ‘I can’t believe you managed to slip in such a feminist message.' We’re making people aware that there is still a women's movement and [women] are still not equal.”

“[The gumboot troupe] is a visible part of the feminist movement, and blatant visibility is often lacking,” said Keri, another RebELLE gumbooter.

The NB RebELLEs do not preach to the converted, nor do they soften their message to avoid offending the audience. They performed at two ”Women in Business” conferences on International Women's Day this year. Many of the women in attendance worked in a corporate environment.

“Capitalism hurts women,” said the RebELLEs during the performance. “Pay inequity, insufficient parental leave, unacceptable childcare, unaffordable childcare, double standards, sexual harassment, glass ceiling, sweatshops. Rise against capitalism!”

“We felt that it was important to speak specifically about how capitalism hurts women, so we adapted our message for it. That was the only time that I’ve actually noticed people walking out of our performance,” said Keri, laughing. “It was antithetical to their conference and provocative, but we wanted to show up and challenge people, their assumptions, and the way they exist in the world.”

Keri explained that most performances have been well received. “I’ve had an intergenerational spectrum of people come to me and tell me, ‘That was amazing!’ I even had a lady ask, ‘Can I gumboot with my cane?’"

Keri reflected on a RebELLEs performance at a memorial vigil in Miramichi for the victims of the Montreal Massacre. "Right before we took the stage, some of the troupe met a survivor of domestic abuse who had just recently started talking openly about her experience. During our performance, there is a part when I talk about feminism and give our definition of it while the rest of the gumbooters stand with their fists in the air. At that point, the woman was sitting in the audience and she raised her fist with us, which then prompted the majority of the crowd to do the same. It was such a powerful moment."

*The gumbooters requested that only their first names be used in this article.

The RebELLEs are recruiting in the fall! Check out their blog for the full manifesto and more information.

Marie-Christine Allard is a member of the New Brunswick Media Co-op. An original version of this story was published by the New Brunswick Media Co-op.

Rebelles Panorama

Fredericton rallies together for women of Afghanistan

Tracy Glynn — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:21:01 +0000

FPS-RAWA 011.jpg

Fredericton rallies together for women of Afghanistan
March 24, 2009
By Jessi MacEachern

This past Saturday, people of the Fredericton community gathered together for a cause that hits hard locally, but is in fact dedicated to communities nearly 10,000 kilometres away.

The Fredericton Peace Coalition, the UNB/STU University Women’s Centre, NB RebELLEs-Fredericton, and CUSO-VSO joined together to host Fredericton’s third Annual Benefit for the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan (RAWA).

RAWA began in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1977 under the leadership of Meena, an activist who was eventually assassinated for her advocacy against Afghanistan’s fundamentalist forces.

Today, RAWA continues to thrive as a political and social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy, and women’s rights. Knowing freedom and democracy can never be donated, what is needed from members of a community like Fredericton is solidarity and support.

Saturday’s lineup brought local talent to the auditorium stage of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. The evening started off with a reception of free beverages and finger foods, accompanied by the soothing musical notes of Mark Currie, Tom Whidden, Brian Calder, and Matt Leger.

As these first musicians played, guests were encouraged to bid on the silent auction items displayed along one side of the room—a collection of art supplies, reading materials, tea sets, jewelry, kids’ items, gift certificates and more, entirely donated by the greater Fredericton community.

Tour, Day 1: Fredericton

dru — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:28:33 +0000

tourphotos - 01.jpg

The first leg of the Own Your Media tour got off to a slow start when copious snow and slow snow plows tacked an extra four hours onto the stretch of road between Montreal and Quebec City. We were forced to reschedule the Fredericton to the following night, but had a brief informal discussion with some students taking a class from Tracy Glynn, our inestimable Fredericton contact.

Tracy has written a number of articles for the Dominion. Go check em out. She's also a tireless local organizer, and she was busy promoting local Cinema Politica screenings, postering for a native solidarity talk in New Brunswick, showing up to intervene at countless discussions, hearings and consultations, and in the recent past, campaigning against the ubiquitous "support our troops" placards and stickers.

Last fall, Tracy and others visited local businesses, asking them to remove "support our troops" stickers from their windows. They pointed out that the stickers were funded by the Department of National Defence and amounted to a pro-war stance. Predictably, the campaign angered some military families, and several members of the group received death threats.

We also met Dana Brown, one of the founders of Citizen's Press www.citizenspress.org, an interesting and promising independent project that, like many others, seems to be on hiatus for the moment.

Alex Corey has also been an organizational force in Fredericton, distributing copies of the tar sands issue downtown and helping promote the Fredericton stop.

Reclaiming the Forbidden Forest

hillarybain — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:59:51 +0000

Roundtable discusses community forestry

“Where are the voices of the First Nations, woodlot owners, ecologists and the public at the decision-making level?” asks Andrew Clark. “This governance model is key in getting a forest managed for the net benefit of the communities and not just for a few people.”

Clark, woodlot owner and director of the Carleton-Victoria Forest Products Marketing Board, crowded into Renaissance College in Fredericton with other woodlot owners, First Nations, community forestry proponents and those studying community forestry in New Brunswick and across Canada for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s public roundtable on “Reclaiming the Forbidden Forest: The Practice, Challenges and Opportunities of Community Forestry in New Brunswick.”

According to those attending, the current forestry model in New Brunswick is only benefiting a select few. Six multinational corporations currently hold licences over all of New Brunswick’s public forest. Seventy-two per cent of this forest is managed solely for wood production. J.D. Irving, with rights to 26 per cent of all wood originating from this forest, is leading a forestry industry lobby to secure more wood from public land.

David Coon, policy director at the Conservation Council is worried by the corporate control of New Brunswick’s forests. “Communities should have priority access to adjacent resources in order to build their local economy.”

Sarah Teitelbaum, a PhD candidate studying community forestry at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at the University of New Brunswick, sees hope in the model of community forestry, which aims to bridge the gap between sustainable livelihoods and healthy forests. She lists the characteristics she uses to define community forestry thusly: “a public forest area; Crown land but also municipal land; managed by the community; more than 50 per cent decision-making by the community; a working forest, with timber harvesting as one of the activities, for the benefit of the community.” Teitelbaum found 116 community forests across Canada that conform to this definition.

Many of these community forests are found in Southern Ontario and Quebec. Teitelbaum also found a vibrant community forestry movement in British Columbia with active community forestry pilot projects.

Teitelbaum’s survey results show that the bulk of community forests are mostly small-scale and relatively young; 74 out of the 116 community forests are five to 10 years old. “From my experience, community forestry is not a simple enterprise. There is room for success but there is also room for failure,” she says. “They have to work under the same market conditions as forest companies, but often they are smaller.”

While New Brunswickers are ineligible for a license to cut wood from public land, private woodlot owners struggle to compete against the public wood cut by private multinationals. “To make a living, we need stable access to markets,” says Clark. “In 1982, a social contract was struck between woodlot owners, the wood-using industries and the government that said private woodlot owners would get first access to markets before Crown wood. In 1992, Frank McKenna betrayed that trust and took away our right to sell wood to the sawmills first.”

Clark proposes changing the licensing system to provide first access to public wood to companies with more employment per cubic-metre harvested. A 'low value, high volume' forestry vacuum has sucked away jobs in the forests of New Brunswick. Community forestry has the potential to turn the tide in New Brunswick with more people employed in the business of diverse forest products of high value, but with a smaller ecological footprint on the forest.

Rural communities in New Brunswick are desperate to revitalize their economies after waves of job losses in traditional sectors such as forestry and fisheries. Dr. Susan Machum, a professor in the Department of Sociology at St. Thomas University and Canada Research Chair in Rural Social Justice, stresses the need for communities to develop a vision for their future. “What kind of rural communities do we want?” she asks. “Do we want them [only] to be places where people sleep? [Because] this seems to be the vision of the Self-Sufficiency Task Force that tells us we need good superhighways to get people out…Or do we want communities where people are both able to live and work?”

The village of McAdam and six other municipalities in southwestern New Brunswick had a vision for the future. Guided by this vision, they developed the St. Croix community forest plan with a 51-member advisory board that included representatives from local government, conservation groups, recreational groups and industry. “That plan was an opportunity for us to make money,” says Frank Carroll, mayor of McAdam. “It was also an opportunity for the province of New Brunswick not to spend any.” The plan did not ask for any capital assets, but only for a $1 million loan guarantee to support the $2 million already committed by the local communities. Despite this, the plan was rejected by the provincial government and now collects dust on the mayor’s shelf.

A recent Supreme Court decision that unanimously upheld the Aboriginal right to log Crown lands for domestic purposes may open the door for a new model of forest management in New Brunswick. “In the upcoming months, I anticipate our community meeting with the government to discuss next steps,” said Brad Paul, a councillor at St. Mary’s First Nation.

Andrea Bear Nicholas, a Maliseet historian and professor in the Department of Native Studies at St. Thomas University notes: “It was ridiculous to win the right to use wood off land we never sold. We really did not win anything. We never took any of these cases to court. We were taken to court.”

Low Impact Forestry

No White Is Illegal?

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 02:34:25 +0000

Fredericton police are accused of racism after arrests at "No One Is Illegal" march

Asaf Rashid believes he was targeted in part because of his Pakastani background. photo: IMC Maritimes

A small, peaceful demonstration for immigrant and refugee rights in Fredericton themed 'no one is illegal' ended when police illegally arrested four protesters on May 27.

"Out of the four people who were arrested, I was the only one who was physically taken down and hand cuffed," said Asaf Rashid, a PHD forestry student, who believes he was targeted in part because of his Pakistani background.

"An officer twisted my right arm behind my back and forced me to the ground, pushing his knee into me and then I was cuffed," said Rashid. "I didn't put up any resistance at all. I made no effort to fight back and I was still physically taken down and handcuffed."

The other three arrestees weren't people of color and none of them were handcuffed or assaulted. Instead, officers told them they were under arrest and marched them to police vehicles. All four arrestees say the police never read them their rights.

Duane Rousselle, another arrestee, was re-united with Rashid in a police interrogation room. "I was pretty much the only one there to witness how they grilled Asaf," said Rousselle, a 24 year old sociology student. "They asked if his family had status, if he was a citizen, if his brother had been deported."

"They didn't ask me, or anyone else who was white, those sorts of questions; they were obviously racially motivated," said Rousselle.

For their part, the Fredericton Police Department is keeping quiet. "Basically, our position on this right now is we're going to be reviewing the incident and not commenting any further on the matter at this point," said Constable Bobbi Simmons.

Since the arrest, New Brunswick media outlets, like CBC Radio and the Daily Gleaner, have asked police some tough questions about race relations and aggressive arrests, but managed to miss the point of the demonstration itself.

"Attention just focused on the arrest of this activist screaming racism, a nice human interest story - not on the struggles of non-status people," said Rashid, who helped organize the New Brunswick demonstration to coincide with 'no one is illegal' events in Montreal, Vancouver and other cities across Canada. The Fredericton protest was part of a national campaign to get status for all workers and families living in the shadows of Canadian society. The campaign is demanding the regularization of all non-status persons; an end to deportations; an end to the detention of migrants, immigrants and refugees; and the abolition of security certificates.

The federal government doesn't know how many non-status people are currently living in Canada, but some officials estimate 200,000 people.

Without papers and the legalized rights that come with them, non-status people are an easily exploitable workforce. "Think of who's picking fruit, working in the backs of restaurants or doing domestic labor... we know our economies are dependent on migrant and non-status labor," said Jaggi Singh, a member of No One Is Illegal in Montreal. "If you can't claim status, it's that much easier to exploit people and it's that much harder for you to claim your full rights and your full dignity," said Singh.

In the summer of 2005 Asaf Rashid and hundreds of others - including many who didn't have status themselves - marched 191 km from Montreal to Ottawa demanding status for all. "I met a lot of people who were non-status and had still taken action and demonstrated in the streets for their rights. We were all connected at that time," said Rashid.

"I saw people, met them, traveled with them and then suddenly, they're deported - gone," he said.

Fredericton police are accused of racism after arrests at a "No One Is Illegal" march. Chris Arsenault investigates.

Fredericton Political Prisoner Freed

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 20:50:47 +0000

A Fredericton activist imprisoned for 18 days in Montreal following a mass arrest during last month's World Trade Organization (WTO) protest was denied a "most basic right" by the municipal judge who oversaw bail hearings for 120 anti-WTO protesters, a Superior Court judge ruled last week. Municipal Court Judge Denis Laberge should not have denied Vaughn Barnett's motion to present evidence in his own defence during his July 29 bail hearing, Justice James Brunton ruled in the August 15 review of Barnett's hearing.

Protesters arrested during demonstrations in Montreal were effectively forced to give up the right to protest through strict bail conditions. photo: Quebec Indymedia

"It's the most basic of rights of anyone brought before the courts that they are allowed to make proof of their position," Brunton stated before the court, explaining that the Crown should have been required to present evidence to justify Barnett's further incarceration and that Barnett should have been provided space to present evidence in his own defence. In his ruling, Brunton erased most of Barnett's conditions and waived Barnett's $200 bail - not because the defendant vowed not to pay, but because the Crown's case against him was "weak". Barnett said he feels vindicated by Brunton's decision.

"I shouldn't have been in prison at all, but I chose to be so that I wouldn't have to sign bail conditions that would compromise my constitutional rights and put me in a position of cooperating with what I consider to be fundamentally unjust institutions," Barnett told The Dominion shortly after his release. "The bail conditions were arbitrarily imposed on me and I considered that to be an extension of the unlawful process that started with the false arrest of almost 200 people in the green zone at the WTO protest." Barnett points to the continual arrests of people like Jaggi Singh and Aaron Koleszar as an argument against activists signing away their rights for a conditional release.

"An activist could be falsely arrested at one demonstration, be subjected to several bail conditions limiting his or her ability to protest later, and if the person tries to attend another demonstration the police can haul him or her into court and use those bail conditions against that person, claiming that the conditions were breached," he said. "Eventually, the activist is caged within these restrictions simply by being persistent and exercising basic constitutional rights."

Barnett, a legal advocate and researcher with a law degree, represented himself in court with assistance from Montreal lawyer, Denis Poitras. His trial is set for October 21.

Barnett was held for 42 days in a Quebec prison following the Summit of the Americas protest in 2001 under similar circumstances. --DARON LETTS