The Dominion - Québec

Rolling Green

Tim McSorley — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:20:03 +0000

Travels along Quebec Route Verte

GRENOBLE, FRANCE—Quebec is home to the largest cycling network in North America: La Route Verte. Inaugurated in 2007, it connects over 4,000 kilometres of bike routes linking the many regions of Quebec: from Gatineau to Gaspé, and from the south of Montreal to as north as Val-d’Or, Lac-Saint-Jean and Baie-Comeau. This past summer I cycled over 1,100 kilometres from Montreal to Gaspé to see why over four million people rode this trail in 2010.

“When we began the project, the concept was to link up all the regions in Québec with their cycling paths, so that everyone who always wanted to travel by bicycle could have access to it,” says Louis Carpentier, director of development for the Route Verte.

“The other goal was to have something to join the environmental movement—something without motorized activities, something greener.” Now more than ever, Quebecers—especially those living within five kilometres of their workplace or school—are using their bikes as their mode of transportation.

Biking focuses on a healthier lifestyle, choices that have positive impact on the environment and community, and of course cycling is simply a fun activity. Though the concept is shared widely across Europe and North America, cycling is far more about the local region, explains Carpentier.

“Traveling by bicycle is something quite fascinating. It has an impact on what you see, what you eat, what you do," he says. "Traveling 100 kilometres by bike you don’t want a cheeseburger, you want to eat what you saw, you want to taste the fields. Stopping at a local brewery, a winery, to have a good meal, to eat seafood in Gaspésie—this is all part of traveling by bicycle. It also becomes part of the diversification of the regional economy, and it’s quite sustainable too.”

The Route Verte not only diversifies the regional economy, but it influences the creation of new attractions. Richard Goulet from Maskiongé is one such entrepreneur. He reopened the general store dating back to the mid-nineteenth century as a museum and café.

“The general store is part of the community, and we had an opportunity to reopen as it was," Goulet tells me. "We filled the store with things families from the community once bought from it. They sold it back to us.”

Items such as tin containers, radios and toy cars are only a few examples of what sits on the shelves and behind the display cases.

Along the Route Verte there are countless examples of small businesses geared to cyclists. Sylvie LeBeault from Yamachiche renovated her house to include a take-out window to sell ice cream. A sign tells visitors to ring the bell. I did, and LeBeault comes right down.

"Cyclists need both rewards and motivation,” says LeBeault, as she hands me a strawberry ice cream cone.

"If there are more bike paths there will be more cyclists,” says Carpentier. "If there are more cyclists, there will be a greater impact on the regional economy. Some people who own bed and breakfasts are saying that previously they had problems renting a room, but now all summer it is cyclists who are renting the rooms.”

As it stands now, the Route Verte is 94 percent complete, edging close to its initial goal of around 4,300 kilometres of bike paths. Their main focus for the immediate future is reaching that goal, and improving the signage along the route.

An area that needs improvement—one obvious for anyone who has driven on the roads in Quebec— are the pot holes that line the bike paths. Carpentier admits that this is the most common complaint he receives. However, the Route Verte relies on their regional and provincial partners for road maintenance, and thus must be patient while the government decides on construction.

The Route Verte has resulted in a wider impact on life in Québec than solely providing a safer environment for cyclists. Statistics have shown that more and more Quebecers, young and old, are using their bikes for pleasure, transport, exercise or vacation, and the numbers have been growing consistently over the last decade.

The concept of cycling networks is also growing worldwide. Just as the Route Verte looked to European networks, its creators are now being consulted by Australia and Ontario. As the concept expands to encompass more regions, countless local communities are benefiting along the way. The Route Verte stands as an example of how big ideas implemented locally can result in a contagious flow of positive effects for the environment, economy, and lifestyle.

Crossing borders for stories, Michael Sabelli is in constant motion while he captures what's happening in the world in words.

Route Verte

The Self-Determination We Deserve

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:15:03 +0000

Landmark charter challenge launched as Bill C-389 raises debate

MONTREAL—“Remember Stonewall?” read a banner dropped by two young people before they were arrested at this year's Trans-* Day of Remembrance in Ottawa. They were asking the community to remember a landmark riot against state repression and police brutality, led by Sylvia Rivera, a trans- woman of colour. The event is commonly known as “the hairpin drop heard around the world,” and remembered as having catalyzed North American trans- organizing.

In 1969, the year of the Stonewall Uprising in New York, it was hard to believe that a politician would ever seek to better the lives of trans- people; however, NDP MP Bill Siksay of Burnaby-Douglas hopes to do just that. Bill C-389, introduced by Siksay, would add gender identity and gender expression to the list of protected classes in the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code of Canada, and also to the Canada Human Rights Act, which protects against discrimination in housing and employment. On February 9, 2011, the bill passed the House of Commons and and now awaits Senate approval.

When asked about Bill C-389, Matt McLauchlin, Co-chair of the NDP LGBT Committee said, “A clear law banning discrimination based on gender identity or expression would make it clear...that discrimination on these specific grounds is not to be tolerated. This would help not only with litigation but also with public education and similar initiatives to stop transphobia.”

Conservative MP LaVar Payne, of Medicine Hat, Alberta, wrote in a letter to a concerned constituent that broadening identifiable groups in the Criminal Code “will further infringe on Canadians’ right to free speech.” Other right-wing opponents have deemed it “The Bathroom Bill,” suggesting that it would facilitate sexual assault in public washrooms. This attitude demonstrates the current lack of popular education surrounding gender, as well as the portrayal of trans- people as deceptive and suspicious.

However, not all critics of the bill are right-wing. Some trans- organizers argue that C-389 is limited in its analysis of systemic barriers facing the community, while others suggest that it may be more harmful than helpful.

“In a culture that penalizes transgression, legal recognition of gender identity and expression can be important in order to access benefits including housing, legal rights, healthcare and some sense of safety,” says Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, prominent queer anti-war activist and editor of the anthology That’s Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. “But I don’t think we should be lulled into thinking that legal changes will give us the self-determination that we all deserve.”

“I think that an interesting question to ask might be, ‘Whose lives will it impact?’” says Jackson Ezra of l'Action Sante Travesti(e)s et Transsexuel(le)s du Quebec. ASTTeQ is a group that works to encourage the health and well-being of trans- people through access to resources and support.

“While I think that this bill opens up some really interesting discussions and debates, I [question] the impact that it [would] have on the lives of trans- sex workers, migrant and non-status people, poor people, people who use drugs, people who are homeless and turned away from shelters, people who struggle every day just to get by [and] access basic services, and [those] whose lives and realities are criminalized,” he said.

In 2009, a similar bill—named the Gender Employment Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA)—was proposed and passed in the New York State Assembly, and awaits Senate approval. While garnering the support of many LGBT groups, a coalition of five organizations (The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, FIERCE, Queers for Economic Justice, The Peter Cicchino Youth Project and The Audre Lorde Project) wrote a letter to the GENDA coalition voicing their non-support of the bill, arguing that “[r]ather than serving as protection for oppressed people, the hate crimes portion of this law may expose our communities to more danger—from prejudiced institutions far more powerful and pervasive than individual bigots."

The letter continues:

Hate crime laws are an easy way for the government to act like it is on our communities’ side while continuing to discriminate against us. Institutions can claim 'anti-oppression' legitimacy and win points with communities affected by prejudice, while simultaneously using 'sentencing enhancement' to justify building more prisons to lock us up in. Hate crime laws foreground a single accused individual as the 'cause' of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, or any number of other oppressive prejudices. They encourage us to lay blame and focus our vengeful hostility on one person instead of paying attention to institutional prejudice that fuels police violence, encourages bureaucratic systems to ignore trans- people’s needs or actively discriminate against us, and denies our communities health care, identification, and so much more.

Seeking to address barriers regarding sex designation and identity for trans- citizens, a challenge has recently been launched against the Directeur de l'Etat Civil du Quebec (DECQ) by Elias Dean. “If this case makes it to court,” Dean told The Dominion, “it will be the first time in this province that the bodily autonomy of trans- people is addressed in a court of law.”

Dean explained, “I am a transsexual man whose demand for a change of legal sex designation was recently turned down. It was denied to me because even though I've received a GID diagnosis [trans- people are considered to experience Gender Identity Disorder, a diagnosis within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] and have undergone chest reconstruction and hormone therapy, I have not had a hysterectomy. Sterilization is mandatory to access a legal change of sex in Quebec. In the case of trans- women, vaginoplasty is required, and for trans- men, it's a hysterectomy.”

Requirements for changing one's sex marker—that is, the "M" or "F" designated by the state on one's identification—vary from province to province. While Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is not needed for one to change one's legal name, it is consistently required to change the sex marker on provincial identification. The same set of laws are applicable nation-wide, but are inconsistently interpreted provincially.

In June 2010, trans- people and their allies rallied at the the office of the DECQ demanding access to name changes without excessive delay, sex marker changes without forced sterilization, sex marker changes for those without citizenship status (after living within the province for one year), the removal of sex indication on birth certificates, and clear guidelines available online regarding name and sex marker changes. PolitiQ: Queers Solidaires, a queer and trans- collective working towards creating spaces for the open discussion of sexuality and gender, organized the rally, which was endorsed by Stella, the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, l'Association des Transsexuels et Transsexuelles du Quebec (ATQ), Project 10 and ASTTeQ.

Swan Kennedy, a speaker at the rally, expressed the need for identification congruent with one's chosen identity, saying, “We need the DECQ to recognize that our livelihoods and lives are put at risk when we have identification that does not reflect our gender...The DECQ requires that an applicant have a "serious reason" to change their name on identity documents. Surely, discrimination against us [is a] serious reason.”

Dean expands on this, saying, “Having mismatched paperwork jeopardizes our chances of obtaining jobs, housing and health care, [often pushing] us into committing survival crimes, which often results in jail time, with trans- women getting incarcerated in male prisons where they face serious violence, et cetera.”

Whether or not one supports Bill C-389, the right to self-identify is central to ongoing trans- struggles. Trans- movements have been largely grassroots, mobilizing outside of government institutions. With Canada's history of institutional repression of trans- organizing, many question whether or not a representative or a piece of legislation could ever truly address the needs of such a diverse community.

“There are so many ways that trans-, genderqueer, gender defiant and gender nonconforming people continuously challenge the violence of state control of our lives, and [we] need to continue to build our own cultures, values, norms, institutions, and families while challenging all the violence around us," says Sycamore. "[This is] not just a state that asks us to submit to the prying and spying of medical professionals in order to grant us a basic need, but the state that continues all other forms of oppression as well, from oil drilling on Indigenous lands to a continuous crackdown on free speech and freedom of assembly."

“Not all trans- people experience the same kinds of violence, and not all trans- people’s needs are the same. As [allies], we need to understand trans- rights as the fight against police brutality, racist immigration policies, and the struggles against the criminalization of sex work, homelessness and drug use,” says Ezra.

“Even though my being trans- is sometimes a source of grief for me, I am thankful to be part of a resilient community that has found its voice after having our lives narrated through medical discourse for so long—[a community] that is actively organizing and fighting back," adds Dean. "It is thanks to those who have walked this path before me that I can go ahead with this challenge.”

*In this article we use the term "trans-" as an umbrella term to be inclusive of all transsexual, transgendered, gender-variant, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming individuals. While it is not our intention to conflate these identities, we seek to be inclusive.

Jesse Grass is a genderqueer, working-class fuck-up. Nat Gray is a poet, a dumpster skid, and an intern with The Dominion.

GenderIdentity

Special Rapporteur Agrees to Meet

Paula LaPierre — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:00:39 +0000

Special Rapporteur Mr. James Anaya has agreed to meet with Paula LaPierreregarding numerous concerns.

LaPierre contends that all Canadians have been denied access to their own genuine history. She further claims that often, as a result of this poor understanding of history there can continue a lingering sense of injustice. Communities need to have a deep understanding of their own identity and history if they are to position themselves effectively for the transitions ahead.

LaPierre looks forward to the creation of community-based processes that can stimulate deeper community learning and engagement.

Dire Prospects

Tim McSorley — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:53:11 +0000

Expanding uranium exploration sparks concern, protests in Quebec

SEPT-ILES, QC—There is a region in northeastern Quebec that is renowned as a moose hunter's paradise: a country of blackflies, where outcroppings of billion-year-old granite poke through the veneer of trees and pristine rivers originating in the Labrador highlands tumble over escarpments to empty into the widening St. Lawrence. In small, blue-collar urban centres such as Port-Cartier and Sept-Iles, it seems locals spend every free moment on the land. Ski-Doo travel is a preferred recreational activity in winter and on the shores of mountain-ringed Lake Kachiwiss, located 15km from downtown Sept-Iles, families on day trips stop to drink hot tea from thermoses.

But despite, or perhaps in light of, this popularity, Lake Kachiwiss has also become known as a point of interest for reasons other than Ski-Doo expeditions.

It is here that Vancouver-based mineral prospecting company Terra Ventures has been drilling the granite bedrock of the Saint Lawrence North Shore for uranium since 2008. The procedure includes boring a 300-metre hole into the ground at a location previously identified by aerial survey as having uranium potential. The contents of each hole are then hauled to the surface and cut laterally into two hemispheres, the way one would slice a carrot. One hemisphere from each core sample—which are typically radioactive—is trucked to a lab, while the other half is left on site for classification.

According to Sept-Iles residents, the prospecting site is not fenced in, the drill holes, as of June last year, were uncapped, and the company has neglected to post signs to warn the population about potential radioactivity. The core samples are stored on open-air racks, exposed to the elements.

Marc Fafard, a logger and local activist, describes the result of leaving such unusual objects unattended, and essentially unmarked, in a frequented area.

“You've got these lovely core samples, soft, beautiful as fossils, nice to touch,” he explains. Samples "were showing up in people's living rooms”.

Fafard, who was a recent mayoral candidate, helped found the citizens' group Sept-Iles sans uranium (Sept-Iles without uranium; SISUR) after reading about the prospecting activity in the news. According to Fafard, this anecdote of souvenir hunting gone badly wrong illustrates the degree to which the initial flurry of uranium prospecting caught Sept-Iles residents by surprise.

“Most folks don't know what radioactivity is,” he says. “We're asking for a moratorium while we inform people.”

Terra Ventures representatives did not respond to interview requests before deadline.

One of SISUR's first goals was to purchase a Geiger counter and visit a majority of the uranium prospecting sites in the North Shore region. But it turned out to be a tall order. Since 2005, a plethora of companies have obtained permits from the Quebec government to drill in approximately 20 locations, and have extracted up to 250 core samples per site along an axis extending 800km from Tadoussac through Sept-Iles to the eastern terminus of Highway 138 at Natashquan.

Over the same period, the number of active permits across the province has jumped from four to 86. Starting in 2005, a buzz of speculation driven by the mining industry and the US government's efforts to promote nuclear reactors as a “carbon neutral” and “clean” energy source propelled uranium prices to record highs. The metal's value rose from around $10US a pound, to peak at close to $140 in 2007, before settling to $42 in February this year.

Saskatchewan is currently the only jurisdiction in Canada to operate commercial uranium mines, supplying 22 per cent of the world market from its underground, seamed deposits. But with prices high, the extraction of far lower-density uranium deposits contained in the granite of the Canadian Shield, which have been known since the 1970s, suddenly appear financially viable. In addition to Quebec, active prospecting is now also underway in Labrador and Nunavut.

This trend can pit a provincial or territorial government, eager for royalties or investment, against remote communities that will have to live with the environmental consequences in their backyard. In January 2009, the Sept-Iles City Council responded to popular pressure and passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on uranium prospecting. But even though the Lake Kachiwiss site is located within Sept-Iles city limits, the resolution carries no legal weight because it is the Ministry of Natural Resources in Quebec City that holds exclusive authority to issue or regulate permits.

Mining industry representatives point out prospecting is not the same as mining, and that typically only a fraction of prospect sites will turn into a commercial venture. But whistleblowers like Fafard counter that the amount of radioactive material extracted from prospect sites across Quebec cumulatively equals the output of a small commercial mine.

Environmental concerns related to the prospecting and potential mining of uranium tend to centre on the dispersal of radioactive residues into the air and water. The Lake Kachiwiss site lies just three kilometres from the banks of one of the North Shore's most important salmon streams. Also, Lake Kachiwiss has been shown to flow into Rapid Lake, which provides drinking water to Sept-Iles. Activists fear the radioactive contaminants will follow these main watercourses and accumulate in the Gulf of St. Lawrence posing unacceptable, long-term, cancer-related health risks to residents of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Moreover, the low density of most deposits in Eastern Canada means commercial mining would likely include an open-pit operation, with vast quantities of granite crystal being ground up to free trace amounts of uranium. The pulverized stone, containing unrecovered uranium and derived substances would remain on site.

Marc Fafard sums up the fears of many. “We're afraid we'll be held hostage to mountains of radioactive residue that we'll have to manage ourselves once the companies are gone,” he says.

Many observers of the mining industry point to the policy of “free entry” as an obstacle to democratic sovereignty in resource-related issues. Devised in the 19th century, and still in force in every Canadian province except Alberta, free entry grants prospectors unlimited access to the minerals beneath the surface in any part of a province or jurisdiction not previously claimed for mining purposes. This means the rights of mining firms trump other interests, including the proprietary rights of individuals or municipalities, which apply only from the ground up. Granting an exploitation permit is also expected to be “non-discretionary,” that is, based only on technical factors, unrelated to issues of social acceptability.

“It becomes more and more difficult to stop [mining companies] as you let the door open,” says activist Ugo Lapointe on the question of whether a company that already has a permit to prospect for uranium could be denied a mining licence. “It may not be impossible, but we know of no case where that has happened.”

Lapointe is a spokesperson for the provincial watchdog group Pour que le Quebec ait meilleure mine (a play on words, but literally, "For a Quebec with Better Mines") which is critical of the cozy relationship said to exist between the Quebec government and the mining industry. Unlike the royalty regime applied to forestry, where a “stump fee” is based directly on the volume of wood extracted, the 12 per cent royalty applied to mining companies is calculated as a percentage of net profit, an amorphous figure which Lapointe says amounts to no more than two to four per cent of real profits due to inventive accounting by the corporations.

One further focus for criticism is the province's much-hyped development strategy, known as the “Plan Nord,” which involves targeting government money at selected infrastructure projects favouring principally the resource extraction sector in northern Quebec. According to research conducted by The Dominion, last year's provincial budget earmarked $130 million for extending Highway 167 by 268km into the Otish Mountains, northeast of the James Bay Cree town of Mistissini. It is in an area without residential communities, but where Vancouver-based Strateco Resources has discovered some of Quebec's most concentrated uranium deposits.

On first impression, the City of Sept-Iles resembles any other medium-sized frontier town. Aluminum refining, forestry and fishing are the mainstays of the economy. A majority of businesses are clustered along the main drag. The houses have a prefab look. There is no vegetarian restaurant and few residents would self-identify as environmentalists.

But facing what many feel to be a clear and present danger, the townsfolk have banded together with a force and an originality of tactics that are startling. Beginning in 2009, SISUR made several inspections of the Lake Kachiwiss prospect site. They found Terra Ventures to be in violation of specific provisions of the environmental code and filmed and posted the evidence on the Internet. As a result, the provincial Environment Ministry temporarily shut down Terra Ventures' operations on several occasions as recurring violations were brought to light. Activists also periodically blockaded the prospect site.

Then, last December, a group of 24 Sept-Iles doctors signed a statement warning they would leave the North Shore if prospecting work was not halted. Though some media outlets criticized the doctors for their tactics, an anti-prospecting demo held in Sept-Iles on December 13 attracted 3,000 people out of a total population of 26,000.

The doctors' letter mentioned their specific concern about radon, a radioactive gas linked to lung cancer which is trapped in the bedrock and is released by prospecting. The issue grabbed headlines and was broached in Quebec's National Assembly.

“There's a whole debate that needs to happen,” says Loraine Richard, the Parti Quebecois Member of the National Assembly [MNA] for Sept-Iles. “When there are almost 20 doctors who want to leave my region, I stand up and take notice.” On February 17, Richard presented a citizens' petition to the National Assembly calling for a province-wide moratorium on uranium exploration, a concept supported by MNAs from the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire, but rejected by the majority Liberals.

Many activists now see the Sept-Iles experience as a template for successful organizing because it has mobilized citizens and politicians and made prospecting a public issue in a way it has never previously been in Quebec.

Nevertheless, the ultimate outcome for the Lake Kachiwiss site remains uncertain. For the moment, the provincial Liberals' strategy seems to be to deal with Sept-Iles as an isolated case that can be dealt with without addressing any broader issues of mining policy.

However, speaking in the National Assembly on December 4, Serge Simard, the Liberal minister responsible for mining, promised that a uranium mine at Lake Kachiwiss would not go forward without local endorsement. Also, in recent weeks Terra Ventures has suspended its prospecting in what looks to be a gentleman's agreement with the government.

But as Sept-Iles' MNA Richard points out: “If they [Terra Ventures] wanted to dig tomorrow morning, legally speaking, they could do it.”

And as long as the policy of free-entry mining remains unchallenged, it is difficult to see how either municipal legislators or MNAs like Simard can make promises to their constituents with any degree of conviction.

Chris Scott is a community radio host, activist and writer with experience reporting from northern Quebec.

SISUR demonstration

Quebec uranium exploration map

Demonstrators condemn US relief and reconstruction plans in Haiti

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:12:00 +0000

On Monday January 25, Montreal played host to a major international conference to discuss the continuing relief efforts in Haiti. In attendance were Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive as well as foreign ministers from Canada, US, France, and Brazil, international banks, as well as relief organizations and UN representatives. Demonstrators outside the conference expressed skepticism that the international powers who have coordinated humanitarian efforts will respect Haitian sovereignty and interests during reconstruction.

Canada in Haiti, Part I (video)

Van Ferrier — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:32:58 +0000

Demonstrators condemn US relief and reconstruction plans at Montreal conference

On Monday, January 25, Montreal played host to a major international conference to discuss the continuing relief efforts in Haiti and lay the groundwork for reconstruction. In attendance were Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, foreign ministers from Canada, the US, France, and Brazil, as well as representatives from international banks, relief organizations and the United Nations.

Outside the conference, community organizations and members of the Haitian diaspora in Canada questioned the US military role in the relief efforts. The demonstrators expressed skepticism that the international powers who have coordinated humanitarian efforts will respect Haitian sovereignty and interests during reconstruction.

With contributions from Malcolm Guy.

Edited and produced by Van Ferrier.

Visit www.dominionpaper.ca/video to watch more Dominion video news and videos from around the web related to coverage in the Dominion.

Serge Buchereau

The Need for Legal Empowerment

Paula LaPierre — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:22:17 +0000

The Need for Increased Legal Empowerment

We must avoid the trap of interpreting disadvantaged or poor strictly from a material paradigm.

Sincerely,

Paula LaPierre

Joint Efforts are the Key

Paula LaPierre — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:36:16 +0000

Concerns

Paula LaPierre — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:45:41 +0000

The Dialogue Denied Us

Appreciates Recent Correspondence

Paula LaPierre — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:13:35 +0000

Important First Steps as Local Community Makes Plans

Paula LaPierre — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:00:47 +0000

Moving Forward in a Sustainable Process

Paula LaPierre — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:03:11 +0000

What is Equity

Paula LaPierre — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:41:16 +0000

Barriere Lake Algonquins Slow Hwy 117

Lia Tarachansky — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:50:42 +0000

header.jpg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, September 29, 2008

Barriere Lake slows down traffic on Highway 117: continues to pressure Minister Lawrence Cannon and his Conservative Government to respect Barriere Lake's agreements and leadership customs

Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory Territoire Algonquin /- On the National Day of Political Action, at 1:30 pm, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake will slow down traffic on highway 117 to distribute flyers and raise awareness about the Conservative government's violations of their rights.

"The federal government must accept reasonable demands we've spent years trying to reach them about – that the government honour agreements they've signed with us and stop undemocratically propping up an illegitimate Chief and Council in our community," says Norman Matchewan, a youth spokesperson for Barriere Lake.

They want the Government of Canada to uphold an internationally lauded sustainable development agreement Barriere Lake signed with Quebec and the Conservative federal government in 1991. The Government of Canada has been in breach of the agreement since 2001.
To resolve the situation, Barriere Lake is demanding that the Government of Canada send observers to witness a leadership re-selection, in accordance with Barriere Lake's Customary Governance Code, in good faith recognize the outcome, and then cease all interference in their internal affairs.

– 30 –

Media Contacts:

Norman Matchewan, Barriere Lake spokesperson: 819-435 - 2171

Michel Thusky, Barriere Lake spokesperson : (819) 435-2171

Collectif de Solidarité Lac Barrière
*******************************************
www.solidaritelacbarriere.blogspot.com
barrierelakesolidarity@gmail.com
514.398.7432
Reply

Forward

Montréal NDP candidate Dr. Samira Laouni attacked on 98.5FM

Anna Carastathis — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:03:01 +0000

samira_laouni.jpg

Dr. Samira Laouni, federal NDP candidate in Bourassa, Montréal (pictured above), was viciously attacked on Benoît Dutrizac's radio show, broadcast on September 10 on 98.5FM (a summary of the interview was published by the Montréal Gazette).

Laouni, termed "Québec's first veiled federal candidate" by mainstream media outlets, weathered Dutrizac's questioning with calm composure. Interrogated about her marriage, her religious beliefs, and her sexuality, with her measured responses Laouni revealed the deeply Islamophobic, misogynist presuppositions of Dutrizac's questions.

Following the interview, calls for Dutrizac's resignation came from the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The CAF is also filing a complaint with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), urging a full investigation of Corus Radio Network (the media outlet that owns 98.5FM), based in Toronto.

Radio Regulations (Broadcasting Act, 1986) forbid the broadcasting of

any abusive comment that, when taken in context, tends or is likely to expose an individual or a group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability.