The Dominion - 82

Issue #82

Tim McSorley — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:49:09 +0000

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May/June 2012

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Roma Refused

Tim McSorley — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:18:22 +0000

Changes to refugee law shut doors to persecuted minority

TORONTO—The Roma Community Centre's one-room office, located on the ground floor of the Crossways Plaza in Toronto, has been operating in this location since October 2011. Founded in 1997 after the arrival of over 3,000 Czech Roma refugees in Canada, the RCC is the only organization for Roma operating in Toronto. Originally based out of the office of Culturelink, an immigrant settlement organization, the new space now hosts a number of different programs including a weekly English as a Second Language class, a women's support group and immigration counselling.

According to Gina Csanyi, Executive Director of the RCC, since acquiring the new office space there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people coming to the centre—around 20 per day—mostly Roma from Hungary. Csanyi said, “as things become progressively worse in Hungary more and more are fleeing.”

The Roma, more commonly known in the English-speaking world as Gypsies, are Europe’s largest minority with an estimated 8 to 12 million living in Europe, the majority in Central and Eastern Europe. Roma trace their roots back to northern India and are said to have left their home country and migrated west over 1,000 years ago. Throughout their long history in Europe they have been subjected to slavery, exiled, killed, used as scapegoats and have been historically marginalized in almost every country they have settled in. During the Second World War military officials sent the Roma living in Nazi-occupied countries en masse to concentration camps. Seven thousand Roma lived in the Czech Republic before the Second World War; less than 600 survived.

Today they suffer low employment rates, low education levels, lack of access to government services and health care, poverty, segregation and violent crimes perpetrated by neo-Nazis and skinheads. Forced school segregation programs and state removal of children affect Roma families in some jurisdictions.

Since 1997, thousands of Roma have been seeking asylum in Canada, the first wave coming from the Czech Republic, quickly followed by Roma from Hungary, and to a lesser degree Slovakia and Romania. Currently the largest group of Roma seeking asylum in Canada are from Hungary.

In recent years, changes to visa requirements and changes to immigration and refugee laws have created significant challenges to those wishing to immigrate here, leading to a massive decrease in the number of Roma accepted as refugees.

I met Robert and Monika, two volunteers, in the Roma Community Center on a Friday afternoon. They were helping organize the Hungarian Roma community.

According to Robert, a Hungarian Roma who came to Canada with his wife and child in 2010, one of the major problems in Hungary is that Roma are afraid to speak up about the persecution and discrimination they face because they have little support. Members of the police and government are intolerant of his people, he says. A far-right nationalist party that specifically targets Roma and Jews has grown into the third largest political party in the country and has spearheaded anti-Roma legislation. If Roma were to speak up, says Robert, they could lose their jobs and neo-Nazi groups would threaten them. The risk and insecurity prompted Robert and his family to flee the country. “I never want to go back,” he says. He and his family are waiting for their refugee court hearing to determine whether or not they can stay in Canada.

For many Hungarian Roma, applying for asylum in Canada is their last hope at finding a safe place to raise a family. Monika, another Hungarian Roma who came to Canada with her husband and 2 children said, “We had to sell everything to come here: our house, everything. We have no place to go if we return.”

According to Csanyi there are a number of obstacles the Hungarian Roma face when coming to Canada such as a lack of understanding of the rigorous process of the refugee system and what documents are expected for each refugee case such as police and medical records. It is often difficult for Roma to obtain these papers in their home countries because of police and state discrimination.

In Toronto, lawyers profiteering on the refugee claims of Hungarian Roma are also becoming an issue. “When I meet a client and see who their lawyer is I immediately know if they are going to have a successful claim or not,” says Csanyi. “These lawyers don’t even meet their clients. They cut and paste PIFF forms, have an almost 0 acceptance rate, stretch out the case for years and once legal aid runs out they drop the clients.” This severely affects the chance of a successful outcome in the hearing.

The recent history of Roma immigration to Canada has been a complex one, which Csanyi and others say has been aggravated by immigration legislation such as Bill C-11 and the newly proposed Bill C-31.

The latest Roma immigration wave began in 1997, as rates of neo-Nazi attacks and discrimination in their home countries increased. At first the Immigration and Refugee Board largely granted the Roma refugee status based on the evidence of systematic and long-term persecution in the Czech Republic and Hungary. The acceptance rate for Hungarian Roma before 1998 was around 78%.

As the number of Hungarian Roma refugees increased in 1998, the Immigration and Refugee Board organized an unprecedented examination of the overall conditions in Hungary that would be used in deciding other Hungarian Roma refugee cases. This is the only time such an investigation, known as a “lead case,” has been carried out in the history of the IRB.

The lead case involved two families and the tribunal decided that the conditions in Hungary did not amount to persecution and denied the claimants refugee status. The result was that acceptance rates for Hungarian Roma dropped from 70 per cent to 8 per cent from 1998 to 1999.

On March 27, 2006, the lead case was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal on the basis that it was designed solely to limit the number of Hungarian Roma accepted as refugees in Canada. From 1998 to 2006, more than 10,000 Hungarian Roma refugees were rejected and deported back to Hungary.

Newly appointed Immigration Minister Jason Kenney publicly vocalized the idea that refugee claims made by European citizens were illegitimate. Starting in 2008, the term “bogus refugee” became synonymous with refugees coming from so-called “democratic” countries. This had a strong impact on the outcome of refugee claims made by Roma coming from Eastern Europe. In 2008 the acceptance rate for Czech Roma was 94 per cent. After these public statements the acceptance rate plummeted to 10 per cent in 2010.

Soon after, the government established new visa requirements for Czech residents (as well as Mexican residents), drastically limiting them from coming to Canada and applying for refugee status.

Kenney's targeting of Roma refugees sparked legal action in the Roma community. Rocco Galati, a Toronto-based immigrant lawyer, and the Czech Roma community launched a lawsuit against Kenney accusing him of blatantly undermining the Immigration and Refugee Board's independent tribunal process by spreading bias against the Roma. Court action is ongoing.

Despite these difficulties, last year there were 4,423 new refugee claims in Canada made by Roma from Hungary, with 5,975 cases still pending. While Hungary is currently the country with the highest refugee claims made in Canada, its acceptance rates are one of the lowest. The 2011 acceptance rate of refugee claims from Hungary was 18.3 per cent compared to the national average acceptance rates, which was 44.6 per cent. The average wait time for a hearing is 3 years, forcing many people to live in uncertainty long-term. Many point to immigration legislation and institutional bias against the Roma as the reason for these low acceptance rates.

The Balanced Refugee Reform Act (Bill C-11) passed in 2010 under a minority Conservative Government. At the time of adoption, some of the more contentious parts of the legislation were removed in order to satisfy opposition party demands, only to resurface in the Conservative Government's latest immigration bill, C-31.

Kenney has said he hopes to see Bill C-31, named Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, passed by June 2012. Bill C-31 is an omnibus bill that incorporates aspects of several previously proposed pieces of legislation. The new laws would allow the detention of “irregular arrivals”—those who arrive by boat, for example—without a warrant or an appeal. It would also grant the Minister of Immigration sole authority to set a list of “safe countries,” which are deemed to be capable of protecting their citizens. This would limit the ability of residents of these countries to apply for refugee status and would revoke their option to appeal a rejection. They would also only be given 15 days to prepare and file their written statement which sets the basis of their claim, leaving little time to find legal counsel and translation.

Julianna Beaudoin, a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario, has been researching Roma and human rights issues since 2002, specifically focusing on the Canadian IRB and immigration policies. “Bill C-31 is yet another way the Canadian government is trying to reinforce the notion that there is a 'queue' for refugees, and groups like Roma who are taking active roles in trying to escape persecution and violence are 'jumping the queue,'” says Beaudoin. According to Beaudoin, Canada, as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, has an obligation to provide Roma with a fair refugee hearing.

According to the government, assignment to the safe country list will only come after investigation, though there are questions as to whether other factors could be at play. Syed Hussan, an organizer with the immigrant and refugee rights organization No One is Illegal, argues that “safe country” legislation is linked to economic factors and trade agreements that Canada has signed or is negotiating. In particular, Canada is currently negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union. Hungary is a member and held the presidency last year.

Critics question Canada's willingness and ability to accept refugees from countries with which it has signed trade agreements, since such economic affiliations often tacitly show support for a country's political system as well. Placing these countries on the “safe country” list gives the Canadian government the power to turn away large numbers of refugees. “We call this bill the Refugee Exclusion Act,” says Hussan. “This bill gives [immigration officers] massive powers of detention [of] anyone who is not a citizen and demolishes all the key pillars of a permanent refugee system. If citizenship can be taken away at the whim of a government we are in deep trouble.”

Kristyna Balaban is a Toronto-based documentary filmmaker, photographer, and a member of the Toronto Media Co-op, which produced this piece.

Toronto Roma vigil

The CETAstration of Canadian Municipalities

Miles — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:41:23 +0000

Pending trade agreement with EU only benefits big business

CHARLOTTETOWN—As Canada negotiates its furthest reaching free trade agreement to date, cities and towns across the country are sounding warning bells that it could change local governance as we know it.

The Canadian government is negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union. The accord goes far beyond the reach of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), offering unrestricted trade in goods, services and investments between the 27 EU nations and all levels of Canadian government.

“The first thing to realize is that it [CETA] involves far more than trade,” says Scott Sinclair, Senior Research Fellow with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). He warns of the potential for the deal to greatly affect municipalities’ ability to govern.

The agreement has become known as the “next-generation” deal because of the degree to which it includes all aspects of trade, covering intellectual property, standards and regulations, settlement dispute resolutions, services, investments and government procurement.

The biggest business leaders in Canada and Europe have been the driving force behind the negotiations. They stand to profit, particularly through the agreement's offer of sub-national procurement contracts, which is creating worry and opposition within municipalities.

Municipal-level governments traditionally use procurement contracts to benefit the local economy, opening bids, or a tender contracts, that target local businesses. These local contracts create jobs and opportunities in the region, and and can promote certain kinds of development policies.

But under CETA, non-federal contracts, formerly exempted from free trade agreements, will soon be open to any and all competition, and not limited to local businesses or groups.

Example: the City of Charlottetown, PEI, recently announced an $18 million combined sewer contract that will be opened up to local Maritime engineering, construction and water treatment companies.

For a major project such as this, Charlottetown might look to local contractors for the construction services in order to create jobs in the community. The project may also use the tenders to support environmental or other development initiatives.

However if CETA becomes law, Charlottetown would lose its authority to choose to hire locally and to choose to which parties to grant the procurement contract.

The EU is pushing for a “non-discrimination” clause within the CETA agreement that would mean the procurement terms would apply to all levels of government: when any government calls a bid, it must be open to foreign investors as well as local or national ones.

Minimum limits (or “thresholds”) are in place to distinguish projects and services that are worthwhile to open to foreign investors, which allow smaller contracts to remain outside the purview of the CETA. These limits have been criticized as being too low; they are modelled off of World Trade Organization figures and are set at $340,600 for goods and services and $8.5 million for construction projects.

Charlottetown city councillor Cecil Villard admitted that while the thresholds pose little to no threat for a municipality the size of his city, larger municipalities have much to lose. “My first reaction was that I would be more concerned about the level of thresholds if I were a big city. Toronto’s, Vancouver’s, and Montreal’s are sure to feel the impact,” Villard told The Dominion in an interview.

In fact, municipalities have been calling for a complete exemption from the agreement. The City of Toronto passed a resolution on March 6 demanding its exemption from CETA. And Toronto is not alone: Montreal, Hamilton, Burnaby, Prince Albert and Kingston have all passed resolutions to safeguard their rights to local governance.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has submitted seven principles to International Trade Minister Ed Fast and the negotiating team. The principles lay out the protections it would like to see in CETA. The Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have also launched a major national campaign to educate and empower the public on the potential consequences of CETA.

As pointed out in a recent NDP report, CETA “deprives provincial and municipal governments of crucial economic levers, particularly during economic downturns, to use government purchasing to stimulate the economy and encourage local spinoffs.”

CETA fails to recognize the autonomy of municipalities and is solely playing to the interests of big businesses, say its critics. “It's a bill of rights for corporations,” according to Leo Broderick, Vice Chair of the Council of Canadians.

Inspired by the concept of social justice, Chera-Lee advocates for human and environmental rights through community and legal initiatives from Charlottetown.

CETA versus Canadian Municipalities

Sonic Weapon Rushed Through for G20

stephlaw — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:48:09 +0000

Calling LRAD ‘communications device’ allowed cops to skirt rules

TORONTO—The police have tried to convince the public that its Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD), purchased for the G8 and G20 summits, were strictly communications devices—that they weren’t to be used as weapons. But internal police intelligence reports suggest otherwise.

Outside of public messaging, the police have in fact referred to the devices as weapons, according to documents obtained by The Dominion.

“Whether you call it a weapon or a communications device, it can be used in situations where it can cause people significant hearing loss, significant pain,” said Abby Deshman, a Program Director with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).“They can be used as weapons; they have been used as weapons in the past.”

The CCLA believes that the government should have properly tested and regulated the LRAD before putting it into use—and this would have happened if the LRAD had been designated a weapon.

The CCLA is now calling on the government to institute stronger rules on their use based on testing conducted since the summits.

Manufactured by LRAD Corporation, the devices can play recorded MP3s or be spoken into through a microphone, and they also have a built-in alert function that emits high-pitched tones.

“This non-lethal weapon can produce permanent ear damage,” reads a May 31, 2010 intelligence brief created by the G20 Joint Intelligence Group (JIG). This group consisted of the Toronto Police, Ontario Provincial Police, RCMP and Peel Region police. JIG intelligence reports were sent to various security partners, government departments and, in some cases, international and corporate partners.

A week later, the JIG issued a correction, inline with the official police messaging, stating that the LRAD “is in fact a communications device.”

Toronto Police did not respond to a request for comment on the difference between the internal documents and the public messaging about the LRAD.

A 2010 briefing note created prior to the G20 by a media relations officer with the Toronto Police detailed the police’s official position. According to the note, the LRAD is a “tool to send emergency notifications, directions for evacuations, etc.” It added that the tool will “allow police to communicate to large crowds in various languages.”

This note described the LRAD very differently from a JIG report created shortly after the September 2009 Pittsburg G20 summit.

The older report described the devices as “sound cannons” to “engage unlawful protestors,” originally developed for military purposes and was “employed against Iraqi insurgents and Somali pirates.”

The Pittsburg G20 summit was the first place these devices were used by the police, rather than by the military. “Police used the device to emit a high-pitch sound that forced demonstrators to cover their ears and withdraw,” reads the report.

“There were no reports of demonstrators attending the hospital,” the report also noted.

Despite this claim, a bystander alleging permanent hearing damage due to the LRAD is suing the city of Pittsburgh, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union dated September 21, 2011.
Karen Piper, the plaintiff in this suit, was subjected to the high pitch sound of a nearby LRAD for several minutes during the protest. She got no warning before the alert started, according to the release.

“Piper immediately suffered intense pain as mucus discharged from her ear. She became nauseous and dizzy and developed a severe headache,” read the press release. “Since then, Piper has suffered from tinnitus (ringing of the ears), barotrauma, left ear pain and fluid drainage, dizziness and nausea. She still suffers from permanent nerve damage.”

Concerned about how the LRAD would be used at Toronto’s G20 Summit, the CCLA took the matter to court. A ruling was made on June 23, 2010. No injunction on the use of LRADs was granted, but a judge did order greater restriction on their use.

“Part of the reason that the LRADs were bought or deployed in a hurry was that one-time funding was available from the federal government in order to police for the G20,” said Deshman.

Using federal funds, the Toronto Police acquired four LRADs in preparation for the G8 and G20 summits. Three were the portable “100X” model and one was a larger “300X” model, which can be mounted on a vehicle or boat. On top of that, the OPP also acquired three LRADs of their own.

Alphonse MacNeil, the RCMP officer in charge of all G20 policing, approved the purchase of these LRADs. However, when it was revealed by the Globe and Mail that the RCMP does not approve of the LRAD being used for crowd control or in urban settings, pressure was placed on MacNeil by the Ministry of Public Safety to justify his actions.

“Public Safety are on me about why I supported the purchase of the LRAD for TPS and OPP,” wrote MacNeil in an internal email.

In response, MacNeil received a briefing note on the LRAD, which said that the Toronto Police Service had developed a set of guidelines for appropriate use, and that the force had already used the tool to execute a warrant. It also pointed to the Pittsburg G20 and the Vancouver Olympics as examples of other events where the LRAD had been used.

The document explained that in addition to delivering audio recordings the “alert functions can be used if necessary.” It noted that the manufacturer recommends never using it for more than two-to-five seconds. It also explained that in order to use the LRAD, police commanders on the ground would need permission from an off-site Incident Commander.

CCLA’s Deshman said the police and other law enforcement officers have to be “extremely careful” about using new technologies like the LRAD.

“We can’t just take manufacturers’ assertions about when a device is appropriate and when it should be used, because they have an interest in selling the device,” Deshman said. “What we need is our government to strongly and independently test these things.”

While the LRAD was used by Toronto Police to amplify an eviction notice at Occupy Toronto in November 2011, it wasn’t used during the G20 protests, despite the chaos on the streets of Toronto.

The CCLA was still concerned and, after the summit, pressed to have the LRAD

regulated as a weapon. The province undertook a study on the matter and a report was issued in November 2011.
The report was based on a review of literature and field tests of the device. It established the disagreement on whether the LRAD is a weapon but did not take a definitive stance on the matter. It did, however, recommend changes that could be made in how the LRAD is regulated.

The report also noted that police operating the device may also be at risk of ear damage, recommending that operators of the 300X model stand at least two meteres behind the device.

“The report indicated that the existing limits on when LRAD can be used need to be updated,” said Deshman, “so we called on the government to implement that immediately. We haven’t yet received a response.”

In recent years, police forces in Canada have been acquiring another new device, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). These miniature robotic helicopters can fit in the trunk of a car and be flown by remote control to conduct aerial surveillance. They have been deployed to assist in homicide investigations, search and rescue and to view traffic accidents from above.

The RCMP, OPP and several local police forces across Canada have acquired these devices from Canadian companies that manufacture them: Waterloo-based Aeryon and Saskatoon-based DraganFly. In August 2011, the New York Times reported that an Aeryon’s Scout model UAV was donated to Libyan rebels by an anonymous donor.

A more advanced UAV, the Predator Drone, was used by a local sheriff in North Dakota. The aircraft is normally used to patrol the US-Canada border, but in this instance was used to assist the sheriff to spy on a family and their land.

A version of the Predator Drone armed with missiles is used by both the US Air Force and the CIA. These drones are reportedly used to carry out targeted assassinations in countries such as Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“We are increasingly seeing police interest in purchasing new technologies, technologies that often have been developed in context such as military use,” said Deshman. “I think this is a trend we will continue to see as technology develops.”

Deshman points to the Taser as an example of a device that was introduced without sufficient regulations or testing. There were 26 taser-related deaths in Canada between 2003 and 2008, including the high-profile death of Robert Dziekanski. National attention on Tasers, particularly after police Tasered and killed Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport in 2007, led to deeper scrutiny of the device and its regulation.

Deshman said Canada should learn from this lesson.

“It was probably the worst possible way for them to introduce a new technology,” said Deshman. “What we should be doing is having a lot of public discussion about new technologies, about the benefits and drawbacks.”

Tim Groves is a freelance journalist and investigative researcher based in Toronto.

LRAD - Sonic weapon

Canada Deepens Ties with Deadly Regime

Tim McSorley — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:58:53 +0000

Honduran journalist visits Montreal, reaffirms strength of resistance movements

MONTREAL—In June 2009, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped by soldiers and taken to Costa Rica in a military airplane. The Honduran army took control of the streets.

Nearly three years later, a popular resistance movement continues to organize against and oppose the coup. Meanwhile, the Canadian government and Canadian companies continue to deepen their ties with the controversial post-Zelaya regime.

The coup in Honduras was more than the kidnapping of a popular, progressive president. The day of the coup, Zelaya was scheduled to oversee a non-binding, nationwide survey on whether people were in favor of holding a binding referendum on re-writing the Honduran constitution. For the first time in history, the opinion of regular Hondurans would have had the potential to dramatically change the future of their country.

Had the June 2009 survey passed, it would have meant serious momentum toward a long-term goal of the Honduran social movement, the writing of a new constitution by way a people's assembly, inviting representatives from every sector and municipality to join in the re-founding of Honduras.

The coup, a joint operation by the military, supreme court, congress, and business elite, put a stop to all of this. It meant that the current Honduran constitution, written under a US-backed military dictatorship in the early 1980s, would continue to benefit a small elite.

But the coup also gave rise to the creation of the National People's Resistance Front, which now has local chapters in each of Honduras' 298 municipalities. The resistance movement is dedicated to bringing about a new constitution, at whatever cost.

In 2011, Honduras became the deadliest country in the world, for those countries which the UN has been able to gather statistics. "Our country of just 8 million people is suffering more than 20 murders per day," said Felix Molina, a Honduran journalist who recently spoke in Montreal during a Canadian tour. “Among the victims are around 20 journalists and 424 women. On top of murders, there are death threats, forced disappearances, exile for some and a general criminalization of the social resistance movement.”

Molina is the host, producer and founder of the radio show Resistencia. The show airs on the station Radio Globo, which has supported resistance and pro-democracy movements since the coup.

In the November 2009 Honduran general elections, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was elected president in a vote took place under what some considered a state of siege.

In the five months between Zelaya's kidnapping and the vote, more than 4,000 anti-coup activists were arbitrarily detained. Anti-coup media outlets were repeatedly shut down by the military. More than 100 community organizers were assassinated. Meanwhile, Zelaya, the president in exile, made his way back to Honduras and hid out in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa surrounded by the military.

As a result of the deteriorating security conditions under the interim coup regime headed by Roberto Micheletti and the military's offensive against the resistance, all international election observation bodies refused to send observers.

Regardless, the United States and Canada applauded Lobo's election, and put pressure on other countries to do the same.

The Harper administration has shown it is especially eager to work with Honduran officials since the coup, and Canada's corporate interests in the country continue to grow. In August 2011, Stephen Harper traveled to Honduras and signed a free trade agreement with Honduras. The announcement was unexpected, and took many by surprise.

”The Honduran population was never informed about this [agreement],” said Molina. “As with many of the most important decisions in Honduras, they learned about it after it was taken.”

Honduran congress is considering a new mining law, which critics say prioritizes corporate interests over human rights. This mining law, they say, is designed to benefit mining companies by, among other things, failing to protect access to water and limiting both access to information about mining activities and the ability to have mines closed.

Canadian mining company Goldcorp has faced criticism of its San Martin gold mine, which operated from 2000 to 2008 in central Honduras.

Goldcorp consistently denied that its operations had anything to do with a variety of health problems among locals, including miscarriages and skin diseases, as well as the death of livestock. In 2011, results of tests conducted in 2007 were finally released, showing heavy metal poisoning among 62 residents of the area near the mine.

The National People's Resistance Front recently voted to form a political party as another way to confront these corporate interests. Some groups within the wider resistance movement believe there are other ways to continue the struggle, such as establishing autonomous popular zones and small-scale municipal powers.

“The discussion is far from being over,” Molina said during his talk in Montreal. “In the meantime, we have to make sure that the popular movement keeps existing and to reinforce the capacities of the National Resistance Front.”

Stéfanie is part of the Montreal Media Co-op and is currently interning at CKUT 90.3FM's community news department.

Jesse Freeston is a media co-op sustainer and maker of the upcoming film Resistencia about the ongoing farmer occupation of Honduras' Aguan Valley, www.resistenciathefilm.com.

This article was produced by the Montreal Media Co-op.

Questions? Comments? Drop us a line: info@mediacoop.ca.

Felix Molina

We Need to Fight Back!

stephlaw — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:31:28 +0000

Community March Against Racism takes to Vancouver streets

VANCOUVER—Hundreds of people took to the streets of Vancouver on March 18 for the annual Community March Against Racism, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21. The march, organized by No One is Illegal (NOII)–Vancouver, began at Commercial Drive and 14th Avenue and made its way along the Drive to Grandview Park.

Along the way, stops were made to gather for songs and speakers. After Coast Salish drumming and singing in the middle of the busy intersection of East Broadway and Commercial, Kat Norris of the Indigenous Action Movement asked for a moment of silence "for all of our people on the street, for all of our people incarcerated, for all of our people suffering in their homes..."

Further along the Drive, the march paused once again. "There was a man that was lit on fire on this street by neo-Nazis, and very little was done about it," explained rally emcee Harjap Grewal.

Robertson De Chazal and Alastair Miller, both reportedly members of neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour, have been charged for the 2009 attack against a Filipino man, who had been sleeping on a discarded couch near Commercial Drive. The attack was one of several in recent years that targeted people of colour.

"Feeling safe to walk these streets should not be just a Canadian fiction," a group from the Kalayaan Centre recited in a collective poem. "So-called progressive Van city, silencing histories."

NOII's Grewal highlighted the fact that in the early 1900s, Vancouver was home to race riots and racist legislation—and today racist attacks and legislation remain. "We need to see how these things are linked, and we need to fight back."

"Aqui estamos y no nos vamos. We are here and we're not going anywhere!,” said activist Richard Marquez. "We can't rely on the cops, the courts and the legislators. We’ve got to rely on the people's movement."

Sandra Cuffe is a writer and aspiring janitor currently living in Vancouver.

This article was originally published by the Vancouver Media Coop.

Community March Against Racism

Canada is a Racist State

No fences, no borders

Carnival Band

Hishuk Ish Tsawalk: Everything is One

stephlaw — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:08:04 +0000

Recovering an Indigenous language in Canada

MONTREAL—Kathy Robinson is a language warrior. At the age of 81, she is one of the last two fluent native speakers of Tseshaht (pronounced “tsi-sha-aht”), a language once popularly spoken on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Tseshaht is not the only language indigenous to Canada that is at risk of disappearing.

Of the 50 Indigenous tongues in Canada, most are in danger of extinction. Globally, the last speaker of a language dies every two weeks. There are at least 2,500 endangered languages and dialects destined for extinction in the next 100 years, according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.

“This all happened because of residential schools; we’ve almost lost everything,” said Elder Robinson when asked why her language is disappearing. “We’ve pretty well lost our language, except for a few that kept it.”

Elder Robinson said the residential school system played a huge role in diminishing the number of speakers of Native languages because Indigenous children were forced to speak English. Now, Robinson is fighting to keep her Native language alive.

“I’d just like to leave behind what I know, so the next generation will know this,” said Robinson, who is a mother of 10 daughters.

The Tseshaht people are one of 14 Nations that make up the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

Robinson has devoted the last 33 years of her life to creating language materials for the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. Learning from her elders, she developed the foundations of the Tseshaht curriculum that is still used at the local Tseshaht community school. The school is called Haahuupayak, which means “a tool (yak) for teaching with love (haa huu pa)."

Over the decades, Robinson has revived dances, songs and stories for her community's children that are based on her early memories and on ethnographic interviews found in linguist Edward Sapir’s notes, which she has spent 15 years translating and analyzing.

Two of her daughters, Jessica Stephens and Katherine Robinson, are also involved in language revitalization. Jessica is a member of he First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council (FPHLCC), which developed FirstVoices.com, an online language documentation and education resource.

“[My mother] brought along all her old memories to the children and teachers,” Stephens explains. Her mother started by translating simple objects from English to Nuu-chah-nulth. She then got excited about puppets, which led to translating all the English nursery rhymes, colours, numbers, animals and “everything on earth” into her language.

“There wasn’t any real money back then for a First Nations curriculum. My mother and her co-worker worked long, hard and cold hours to get this done,” Stephens said. “They worked for peanuts but their commitment and passion forged them on.”

Today, First Nations languages are taking on new forms. The FirstVoices team in British Columbia, of which Elder Robinson’s daughter Katherine is part, provides online tools to enable First Nations communities to preserve their Indigenous languages in digital form. New media tools now provide a new pathway for transmitting and conserving oral cultures threatened by extinction.

Soon First Nations people will be able to send text messages to each other in Indigenous languages—thanks to an innovative mobile application that FirstVoices will launch on April 22. It will be available in BC’s 34 languages, which include 60 dialects.

The new texting application, called FirstVoices Chat, is generating a huge buzz among First Nations youth.

“Access to the applications on mobile devices has really sparked an interest in youth to get involved with language. They are going to be able to text everyday in their own language,” said Peter Brand, FirstVoices Co-ordinator.

FirstVoices Chat is one of several new mobile apps that provide multimedia First Nations dictionaries and phrase collections with audio recordings, images and video. The apps are a mobile extension of language collections archived by First Nations communities at FirstVoices.com. They incorporate touch-screen keyboards that use the unique characters for each of the 34 Indigenous languages of BC, as well as an English keyboard.

FirstVoices also runs a language program called The Language Tutor, which has been implemented in several schools in BC. The software offers computer-based language learning courses that are tailored for specific First Nations cultures. Parents have used it in collaboration with local teachers to create successful language immersion environments in several communities.

"It's very exciting to see the new generation of language champions emerging right in front of us," said Peter Brand.

Jessica Stephens said her mother recognizes how essential computers are for revitalizing their language and developing new materials, but that taking computer courses brought up a lot of her mother’s fears from her experience in residential school.

“Her fear was up and she was resistant, but she had to go if she wanted her language to have a chance,” Stephens said. “So she overcame her fear and learned.”

“She liked it and was confused by it, but she kept typing and today she is an efficient computer geek,” Stephens added. “My mom is always on the computer translating the stories. She remembers the people who she is translating. She knows them and has talked to them so it is like she is the link. She loves, absolutely loves translating their notes.”

Elder Robinson is celebrated in her community for having contributed so much of her energy to create a Tseshaht dictionary, books of traditional mythology, collections of song lyrics and children’s stories.

Michael Kelly, a member of the Elders Team from the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, shares Robinson’s belief that residential schools and other historic assimilatory practices are the root cause of the demise of many Indigenous languages.

“When I came back from six years at residential school, I was like a stranger in my own family,” Kelly said.

For Kelly, six years was long enough to lose everything he once had.

“I used to be able to understand our language as a child,” he said. “When my mother died, when I was nine years old, I went to residential school and I was forbidden to speak it; I was a heathen if I spoke it.”

Kelly, along with 22 other elders from different communities in BC, are currently taking part in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s events scheduled in First Nations communities throughout 2012.

Kelly, in an interview in the city of Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, affirmed that the first step towards Indigenous language revitalization in Canada is the healing among the elders who survived residential schools.

“They come in with a lot of anger and guilt,” said Kelly of many First Nations elders. “'Why did I let this happen to me when I was so young?' They’ll blame themselves, and the priests and brothers and prefects, who taught us how to be guilty and think we are not worth anything, and that we are nothing more than drunken Indians.”

But that anger and guilt might be somewhat relieved for those sharing their stories—often for the first time—and by having their voices heard and their experiences validated, Kelly said.

“The pain does not go away,” said Kelly. “The healing is really important so they don’t have to walk around with their heads hanging down, not trusting people, afraid of who they are.”

Stephens affirmed that although healing is important for the elders, it is not an easy process.

“Spiritual healing can only take place when the elders are ready for it. It is a romantic thought that we open this healing door and they all walk in. Life is not like that. Some will never walk in, others will peek in, while still others will take a quick glance, feel too much fear, pain and shame and run far away. The severely wounded can’t even go near the door. Some people wish that we could just heal ourselves quickly and maybe it would go away and they wouldn’t have to hear it again.”

Anna Luisa Daigneault is an anthropologist and language activist from Montreal. She currently works for the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages in the US and is involved with several language revitalization projects in Peru, Paraguay and Chile.

Kathy Robinson

Sustainable

Zinta — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:22:16 +0000

sustainable.jpg

March in Review

Tim McSorley — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:14:12 +0000

Occupy Toronto brutalized, federal budget disrupted and criticized, immigration activists demonized

Toronto police were accused of brutality when they arrested four members of Occupy Toronto on March 30; two of the protesters ended up in the hospital. Police say they intervened at an Occupy Toronto camp behind Osgoode Hall to serve an eviction notice, but none of the accused face trespassing charges. Video of the incident shows one person having a video camera knocked from her hands before she is shoved to the ground, resulting in a fractured eye socket and a broken nose. A protest to denounce the police actions has been called for Friday, April 6.

Canadian parliament passed Bill C-10, commonly known as the Omnibus Crime Bill. The controversial bill has been criticized for bringing in harsh new penalties, including mandatory minimum sentences that have proven ineffective in the United States. Ottawa activist Obert Madondo initiated a hunger strike on March 14 to protest the bill.

A newly disclosed policy memo from CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, says that paying surprise work visits is a “legitimate investigative strategy,” that works to intimidate the individual. The memo was revealed as part of a legal court battle against CSIS launched by an Ottawa woman.

The 2012-13 federal budget was greeted with a protest in the House of Commons and criticism from a wide swath of society, including environmentalists, students, teachers, health care workers, Indigenous people, journalists and housing advocates. The budget announced the elimination of 19,200 public sector jobs; reforms to the immigration system, moving it further towards wealth and economic based immigration; fast-tracked environmental assessments on large-scale projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline; and 10 per cent budget cuts to the National Film Board, Telefilm and the CBC. The government also formally announced the increase of Old Age Security admission from 65 to 67 years of age and the elimination of the one-cent coin. "This budget fails to address the pressures of a middle class losing ground and young people struggling to find work," said a member of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "The books will be balanced, but we'll all pay the price."

Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry tar sands crude from the Alberta tar sands to port in Kitimat, BC, faced further protest, as hundreds marched through downtown Vancouver. The pipeline is currently undergoing evaluation at public hearings held by the National Energy Board.

More than 600 scientists signed an open letter opposing changes to the federal Fisheries Act, which would allow for the destruction of waterways so long as it does not "result in an adverse effect on a fish of economic, cultural or ecological value." One scientist told The Tyee: "It's a stupid idea. What do they think all these commercially important fish eat?” The changes were made official in the 2012-13 federal budget.

Despite organized opposition, and an outbreak of the potentially deadly, and highly-transmittable “infectious salmon anemia” (ISA) at one of its pens, Cooke Aquaculture said it has no plans to stop a $150 million expansion of its Nova Scotia farmed-salmon operations.

Over 250,000 people marched in Montreal against tuition fee increases. The march was part of an ongoing student campaign that has seen more than 300,000 students go on strike, some for going on six weeks. Students have promised ongoing protests until the government renounces its $1,625 tuition fee hike.

The Ontario government bought out gold mining company God's Lake Resources’ stake in land placed under a moratorium against mining by Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation. KI First Nation says it never granted consent to the company’s mining on its traditional land. KI Chief Donny Morris called the victory "bittersweet," however, since the company was still able to walk away with $3.5 million from the Ontario government.

Mexican anti-mining activist Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez was shot and killed in San José Progreso, Oaxaca. Sanchez was an outspoken advocate against the development of a gold mine owned by Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver. While no one has been arrested, it was a targeted attack that follows years of intimidation and violence towards anti-mining activists in the region.

The BC government denied a three week extension request for the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, scheduled to conclude in April. Commissioner Wally Oppal asked for the extension in order to find a replacement for lawyer Robyn Gervais. Gervais resigned as the representative of Aboriginal peoples' interests, in protest over the proceedings' focus on police rather than Aboriginal women.

A landmark ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal to decriminalize sex work has generated mixed reactions from sex workers and their advocates. Some advocates are happy with the ruling, but others denounced it, arguing that it does not protect the most vulnerable groups and it legitimizes “pimps into businessmen.”

On March 11, at 3:18am, a precipitator at the Trenton Generating Station broke, causing fly ash to rain down over the local community of Trenton, NS. The Nova Scotia Power-owned generating station, which burns 0.8 million tons of coal per year, and causes approximately 10 per cent of the province's air pollution, imports much of its fuel from Columbia, where serious questions have been raised in regards to workers' rights. “The government and Nova Scotia Power talk green, green, green,” said Pictou County Councillor Allister MacDonald, one of those on-hand at a demonstration outside the coal plant. "They’re talking out of both sides of their face, and the people of Pictou County are paying for it.”

The Conservative Party called migrant and refugee rights group No One is Illegal “hard-line anti-Canadian extremists,” and accused the New Democratic Party of supporting them. "It seems as if everyone who is a dissident and stands up for equality and social and environmental justice is an extremist in Harper's corporate Canada," responded one NOII member.

A community march against racism in Vancouver brought out hundreds to the city’s streets. Organized by No One Is Illegal, the demonstration came in the wake of court hearings for members of neo-Nazi group Blood and Honor, in relation to several attacks on people of colour in the city. In Edmonton and London, ON, counter-protests were organized against Blood and Honor rallies, resulting in the rallies being disrupted and cancelled.

Queen’s Park in Toronto saw hundreds come out for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty’s Fight Poverty Rally in the lead-up to the 2012 Ontario budget. A few days later, OCAP’s concerns materialized in a budget described by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives as ignoring the province’s child-care crisis, cutting education funding and setting the stage for labor unrest.

The Musqueam First Nation won a three-week delay in condo developments on top of an ancient burial site on their territory, now within the city limits of Vancouver. A three-day blockade of the site by Musqueam members and supporters resulted in the condo-developer agreeing to a temporary halt to construction while they negotiate a deal.

The city council of Antigonish, NS, voted down a proposal to ban outdoor smoking on Main Street. While the by-law was originally proposed for health reasons, opponents argued that it would instead lead to the exclusion of, “the town’s poorest, most vulnerable citizens, many of whom enjoy a cigarette...on public benches,” as well as infringing on individuals’ rights.

Police brutality at Occupy Toronto

Not Our Budget

Red Squares Sweep Montreal

Tim McSorley — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:10:38 +0000

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest tuition hikes in Quebec

MONTREAL—On March 22nd, over 250,000 people marched on the streets of Montreal, making it possibly the largest demonstration in the province's history—comparable in numbers to the February 2003 march against the looming war in Iraq.

People came from across the province to denounce the 75-per-cent increase in tuition fees over five years to be implemented by the provincial Liberals. Premier Jean Charest has said that the increase is meant to ensure students pay their fair share, and has repeatedly stated that the government's decision is final.

The tens of thousands in the crowd, and who continue to support the strike, are hoping to call his bluff. The strike has been ongoing since early February, and shows no signs of stopping: in the days following this march, actions across the province have multiplied.

The students have summoned a broad range of support for their movement. Those on the streets of Montreal include unions, community organizations, teachers, grandparents, parents, high school students, and many others.

While Charest and Education Minister Line Beauchamp claim students are isolated in their demands and are up against a silent majority, those in the crowd—and many of those standing on the sidewalks as the procession stretched by them —clearly feel otherwise.

Tim McSorley is an editor with The Dominion and a member of the Montreal Media Co-op.

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"Stand With Us to Fight"

Tim McSorley — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:42:20 +0000

Hundreds protest Enbridge pipeline and oil tankers at Heiltsuk-led rally

VANCOUVER—Hundreds of people from First Nations, environmental and community organizations, and others from Vancouver and beyond, rallied against Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline and coastal oil supertanker traffic earlier today, filling the Vancouver Art Gallery grounds.

A march led by the Heiltsuk Nation of the Central Coast departed from the Coastal First Nations office at Granville and Hastings Streets and wound its way through the downtown business district to join another group waiting at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The rally marked the 23rd anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, which spilled hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil on March 24, 1989.

"Only seven percent of that oil was cleaned up," said Coastal First Nations Executive Director Art Sterritt of the Exxon Valdez spill. "Our well-being as First Nations is dependent on our lands, on our waters.

“Our people, the Heiltsuk people, have always had a position: No oil tankers on the coast! That position has never changed,” Heiltsuk elder Edwin Newman said, addressing the rally. “We are pleading with our coastal neighbours to stand with us to fight this issue.”

“When we stand together, we are a powerful people,” added Newman, whose call for unity was echoed by speaker after speaker.

"We are Canada's energy union and we stand with you on this issue," Jim Britton, Western Region Vice President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers' Union (CEP) told the crowd. "We do not support Enbridge. We do not support Northern Gateway...This isn't just about oil. This is about us. This is about our communities."

If built, the proposed 1,200-kilometre Northern Gateway oil pipeline would transport a half-million barrels of tar sands bitumen from Alberta to Kitimat, BC. The proposed twin pipelines' 30-metre-wide right-of-way would cross hundreds of rivers, streams and watersheds along its route through numerous unceded Indigenous territories. The crude oil would then be transported on massive oil tankers through delicate coastal ecosystems and Indigenous territories and finally across the Pacific to Asian markets.

"The world that we have lived in for the past 10,000 years is shifting around us," Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, an organization dedicated to building a global movement against climate change, told the rally, situating the coastal struggle against pipelines and tankers within the global climate justice movement. "The planet is starting to become unglued because we are raising the temperature."

"We know, we absolutely know that this fight is going to completely eclipse the [fight for] Clayoquot Sound," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs said. "We know that this fight is going to intensify."

While the struggle against Northern Gateway has garnered massive support and international attention, it is not the only pipeline project facing opposition in the province. Grassroots Wet'suwet'en community activists have been resisting the proposed Pacific Trails natural gas pipeline that would connect to a new Liquefied Natural Gas port on the Central Coast. The project would traverse the unceded lands of many of the same First Nations opposing the Enbridge project. In its case, however, the elected leadership of several First Nations along the route are supporting the Pacific Trails project.

Another lesser-known pipeline project already runs through the lower mainland. The Kinder Morgan oil pipeline brings tar sands crude across the Rockies along its Trans Mountain pipeline to terminals in both Burnaby and Washington State. Only two months ago there was a spill in Abbotsford, BC, following a major oil spill at the Burnaby terminal site in 2007.

Kinder Morgan is expected to announce its expansion plans for the pipeline, according to Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. The company is reportedly looking to increase the quantity of crude transported from 300,000 barrels per day to 600,000 or 700,000.

"Kinder Morgan has been trying to do this as quietly as possible," West told the rally. "We have to stand together to say no to all these projects!"

As the rally wound down after two hours in the rain, the loudest expressions of support were heard for 11-year-old Sliammon First Nation singer-songwriter Ta'Kaiya Blaney. She recalled going to the Enbridge office in Vancouver one year ago to express her opinion about the Northern Gateway pipeline.

"I was escorted out and I was told that if I didn't leave I would be charged for trespassing," Blaney recounted to the ralliers, who showed their support with enthusiastic cheers.

Before performing her song "Shallow Waters," Blaney told the hundreds gathered on the Monday afternoon of the message found in the song: "If we do nothing it will all be gone."

Sandra Cuffe is a writer and aspiring janitor currently living in Vancouver.

This article was originally published by the Vancouver Media Co-op.

Questions? Comments? Drop us a line: info@mediacoop.ca

Heiltsuk Nation elder Edwin Newma

Rally against pipelines at Vancouver Art Gallery

No Abortion Services on Prince Edward Island

Miles — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:18:50 +0000

Island women fight for access in their own province

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND— Kandace Hagen expected her nomination for a youth social justice award to be slightly controversial. After all, if she won, she would be recognized for her work advocating for abortion access in Prince Edward Island. She didn’t, however, expect to face a campaign by anti-abortion activists trying to ensure she didn’t win.

The Atlantic Council for International Cooperation’s Active8! campaign highlights eight youth, and awards one, who have demonstrated outstanding leadership for social justice. The leading contestant, Tara Brinston, was entered into the campaign in recognition of her advocacy work for the rights of people with disabilities, but ended up alongside Hagen in the middle of an abortion access debate.

In a leaked email, a spokesperson of a local anti-abortion group sought to convince its supporters to pledge in favour of Brinston: “Please have all the youth you know sign in and vote for TARA BRINSTON [sic],” the email read. “We want to make sure that Kandice [sic] doesn’t win this award for youth leadership. The vote is close so please send this to all the youth and youth groups you know.”

Hagen, 24, has been part of a reinvigorated movement to get access to abortion services on PEI and to increase women’s access to information about their reproductive options. PEI is the only province in Canada with no abortion services offered within its borders.

This is despite the fact that since 1988 the Supreme Court has interpreted the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ guarantee of the “security of the person” as protecting women’s access to abortion services. This removed legal barriers to abortion for the majority of public hospitals across Canada.

Currently, a PEI woman seeking an abortion would have to travel out of the province. She could pay about $800 to the private Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, NB, or access a PEI-funded abortion at the Halifax General Hospital after a referral from her doctor. Either way, she would pay for her own travel costs. If she were in her second trimester, she would have to travel to Ottawa or Montreal, covering medical and all other costs as well.

This hypothetical "she” could have been Hagen. When Hagen sought the procedure two years ago, her doctor only informed her of the private option in Fredericton. The clinic, in turn, advised her to wait two weeks out of uncertainty that she would be past the necessary eight-week mark.

“When I did arrive, I found out that I was within a week of missing my first trimester date,” says Hagen. “Had my physician acted in my best interest, I could have had an ultrasound and found out that it was indeed a timely issue and been referred to Halifax immediately. Instead, I was almost put in an even more difficult position.”

It was in large part due to this experience that Hagen helped launch the PEI Reproductive Rights Organization (PRRO). The group raises awareness on what options already exist for women on PEI, and how these compare to the rest of Canada. “A lot of people were very surprised. Some had no idea that there were no abortion services available on PEI. Others were equally surprised that there was any funding at all,” says Hagen.

Bronwyn Rodd, another founding member of PRRO, sees a particularly strong “culture of silence” on PEI surrounding abortions— a culture that extends well into the local medical community.

PRRO sent a survey to every doctor in the province with detailed information about current abortion service options. Though many doctors responded by stating that they are pro-choice, none were willing to take a public pro-choice stance.

So far, the group has found one doctor from off-island willing to provide abortions on PEI. “One doctor anonymously spoke to the media here, saying he would be in favour of providing the service, but he would be afraid of retribution by the pro-life people. They are very active. PEI is so small and confidentiality is a challenge,” says Rodd.

Anti-abortion activists on PEI refer to their province as Canada’s "life sanctuary." In other words, “the only place without any legal access to abortion,” says Rodd. “[PEI] is very high on the priority list for the national pro-life movement, because we are sort of their ‘in’ for regressing [abortion] laws in general.” She believes local anti-abortion groups receive substantial financial support from their counterparts across North America.

A spokesperson for one such group,the PEI Right to Life Association, urged people to intervene in the Active8! campaign. Similar activists turned up in equal numbers to counter-demonstrate at PRRO’s 300-person protest last fall, the first pro-choice rally in the province in 20 years.

The association also published in PEI’s main newspaper, The Guardian, in which the group purports to clarify “a number of errors that can be confusing and present a false basis upon which to view the abortion issue on PEI.” The highlighted “errors” paint a picture in which PEI is in fact enshrining the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, rather than transgressing it.

PEI Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz has so far stood against any reforms to current practice. He’s gone on record stating that as long as he’s Premier, he’s “going to stay with the status quo," which he insists is a “good compromise.”

PRRO intends to push for abortion accessibility as far as it can. Rodd understands the Premier’s stance as an implied threat to legislate a barrier, should doctors start offering services. “We don’t think he has the jurisdiction to say that. There is no legal barrier in place here. So, we think he would be acting illegally...And if things do progress that way, we would be looking at launching a lawsuit.”

The Active8! campaign ultimately declared Hagen and Brinston joint winners earlier this month. To Hagen, the PEI government is “simply waiting for us to shut up,” she says, “which we won’t do until women in PEI have the same access as women in the rest of Canada.”

Peter Driftmier is a producer and collective member of Redeye on Vancouver Co-operative Radio, and a community organizer. He spends his mornings trying to convince elementary students at a Downtown Eastside breakfast program of the virtues of tofu, wholegrain bread, fruit and veggies.

Kandace Hagen

"What They Call Development, We Call Destruction"

Dalia Merhi — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:18:20 +0000

Grassy Narrows resistance to corporate logging continues

WINNIPEG—In December 2011, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) released its “Long Term Management Direction,” a ten-year “development plan” for the Whiskey Jack Forest. Located in Treaty #3 territory of northwestern Ontario, this forest is critical to the economic and cultural survival of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek, also known as Grassy Narrows First Nation.

“This document was developed without our participation or consent and is entirely outside the good faith negotiations we have undertaken with MNR since the 2008 Process Agreement,” said Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister in a release. “It sets the stage for more clearcutting throughout our traditional lands, contrary to our Treaty and inherent rights. And we have not given our consent.”

The 2008 Process Agreement was created to guide forest management discussions between MNR and Grassy Narrows after the previous license-holder, Abitibi-Bowater, withdrew in 2008 due to community resistance and public pressure.

Grassy Narrows has struggled for decades with the destruction of the Whiskey Jack Forest from logging, while facing the legacy of residential schools and mercury poisoning in the English-Wabigoon river system.

In 2002, Grassy Narrows’ residents established a blockade of a logging road into the Whiskey Jack Forest. Initiated after years of protest and petitions, the blockade became the longest standing in North American history and an inspiring site of learning, empowerment, and self-determination.

In the Rainforest Action Network’s report, American Dream, Native Nightmare, Roberta Keesick, a blockader, trapper and grandmother, explained the necessity of the blockade: "The destruction of the forest is an attack on our people…The land is the basis of who we are. Our culture is a land-based culture, and the destruction of the land is the destruction of our culture; we know that…they want us out of the way so they can take the resources. We can't allow them to carry on with this cultural genocide."

Before the blockade began, a group of trappers—Andrew Keewatin, Joe Bill Fobister, and the late Willie Keewatin—sought a judicial review against the paper giant, Abitibi-Bowater, and MNR. They argued that their treaty rights to hunt and trap were being infringed by decreased animal habitat and population. Eleven years after the trappers first presented their case, JB Fobister summarizes the 2011 court ruling: “[The Province] could not interfere with [their] right to hunt and trap.”

Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., MNR, and the Attorney General of Canada have since appealed this ruling. Pending the outcome, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently ordered that MNR not authorize the harvesting of wood in the Whiskey Jack Forest north of English River without the consent of Grassy Narrows.

Fobister illustrates the conflict between the interests of industry, the provincial government, and Grassy Narrows: “We are in the way of what they call development. What they call development, we call destruction,” he said. “Whatever happens on the land,” he added, "Grassy should get all the benefits.”

In July 2011, KBM Forestry Consultants Inc. released an audit they conducted of forestry management in the 964,000 hectare Whiskey Jack. Validating concerns of forest mismanagement, the report produced 21 recommendations based on “observations of material non-conformances” to a law and policy as well as ineffective planning and execution.

Some forest product manufacturers, such as Boise Inc. and Domtar, have publicly agreed not to harvest or purchase wood from Grassy Narrows' territory until the MNR obtains community consent. In 2009, Calvert Investments removed Weyerhaeuser from its social index of sustainable and responsible companies due to Weyerhaeuser’s failure to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples.

With only 30 per cent of the forest remaining intact, the Weyerhaeuser mill in Kenora, ON, continues to create a demand for wood harvested from the Whiskey Jack; since 2002, the forest has supplied at least 40 per cent of the mill’s wood, accounting for 42 per cent of the total timber harvest from the forest. The mill produces Trustjoist Timberstrand product, an engineered lumber used for home building.

In 2010, Weyerhaeuser pressured the MNR to approve “contingency” logging areas in the Whiskey Jack Forest without the consent of Grassy Narrows. Chief Simon Fobister issued an open letter to logging companies, retailers, contractors, and investors at the time, calling “for the boycott and divestment of Weyerhaeuser Corporation due to their violation of our human rights as Indigenous Peoples.” With approximately 70 per cent of the mill's product being sold in the United States, a successful boycott would require increased support.

Since the beginning of the blockade, local organizations, such as Winnipeg Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (WIPSM, formerly Friends of Grassy Narrows) and Boreal Forest Network, have stood in support of the blockaders to stop logging in their territory. Together with other allies, they are petitioning Weyerhaeuser and approaching home builders and retailers for a boycott “until they cease all logging and sourcing in the contested traditional territories of Grassy Narrows First Nation.”

“A 'no' from Grassy means, no, stay off their traditional territory—no logging and no resource extraction," said Thor Aikenhead, member of WIPSM.

Damage to the community by corporations and the provincial and federal governments over the decades has taken a great toll, but the determination of Grassy Narrows and its allies could force this corporate giant out. “Grassy's demands must be respected," he adds.

News items and suggestions for supporting Grassy Narrows can be found at freegrassy.org. To sign the petition for Weyerhaeuser to stop sourcing wood from Grassy Narrows First Nation territory, visit: borealforestnetwork.com.

Chuck Wright was a Christian Peacemaker Team delegate to Grassy Narrows in the fall of 2011. He lives in Winnipeg, MB, where he teaches literacy and studies radical adult education. He may be contacted at polepole_w@yahoo.ca.

The Trusjoist Timberstrand plant in Kenora, ON

The Greenwashing of Sustainable Seafood

Miles — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:13:01 +0000

The environmental community rejects the sustainable certification of Nova Scotia longline caught swordfish

HALIFAX—Sustainable seafood certification announces to consumers that the fish they are buying is caught using ecologically sound practices that ensure the conservation of the species of sea life in question. But not everyone feels the not-for-profit organization charged with certification process is doing its job in ensuring the sustainability of fisheries.

The not-for-profit Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) runs the world's main seafood certification program with a corporate vision of “the world's oceans teeming with life, and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations.” Various environmental NGOs, such as the David Suzuki foundation, the Sea Turtle Conservancy and Nova Scotia's Ecology Action Centre (EAC) have been sounding the alarm against MSC's certification of one fishery in particular: the Atlantic Canadian pelagic longline fishery for swordfish, which has been regulated through the MSC process since 2009.

“Personally I am very frustrated by the thought of consumers being misled by eco-labels or not being able to trust sustainability certifications,” says Jordan Nikoloyuk, Sustainable Fisheries Co-ordinator at the EAC. “The [longline swordfish] fishery kills two sharks as bycatch for every one swordfish they bring in ... That fact alone should mean that people shouldn't spend more for it at the stores.”

Pelagic longline fishing is a large-scale industrial approach to fishing. Pelagic longlines have upwards of 1,500 individual baited hooks coming off a central line up to 60 kilometres long. The technology is non-selective, meaning that anything that bites a hook will get caught. There are around 20,000 swordfish caught annually in the Atlantic Canadian longline fishery. But the catch of other, incidental, or “non-target” species is much higher.

The EAC and the other NGOs, as official stakeholders in the certification process, recently filed a formal objection against the recommendation that this swordfish fishery receive its MSC certification. “Our objection was very wide-ranging. It was about bad data, monitoring the fishery and very high levels of bycatch,” says Nikoloyuk.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) estimates that 100,000 sharks and 1,400 sea turtles are caught annually in the fishery. Most sharks and turtles are released alive but approximately 35,000 sharks and 200 to 500 turtles die annually. “Blue sharks are the ones they catch most of ... Do we have to wait for those sharks to be endangered before you can stop catching so many of them?” asks Nikoloyuk.

It is important to note that while the MSC bestows certification and the use of its blue eco-label—an image of a fish combined with a check mark of approval—on fisheries that pass its international sustainable fisheries standard, it does not conduct the certifications. Jay Lugar, MSC Fisheries Outreach Manager for the Americas, says, “The MSC role in our process is to make sure that individual assessments are technically correct. In other words, we review documents that are posted on our website ... for technical correctness, but we don't evaluate the content and the analysis. We don't undertake the scientific analysis, the scientific team does.”

Third party certification firms are hired to conduct fishery assessments for upwards of $70,000, usually paid for by the fishery association benefiting directly from the certification. They are re-assessed every five years.

Fisheries paying for their own assessments can create a catch-22, whereby if the certification company applies the standard stringently and fails fisheries often, they will not be the assessment company of choice by other fisheries wishing to gain certification.

“I am increasingly unconvinced by the third party accreditation model," says Brendan May, CEO of the MSC from 1999 to 2004. "At the end of the day it is the MSC’s brand. There are also big questions about the model in which fisheries pay for their own audits and choose their own auditors. This is a common problem with all major certification systems.”

Intertek Moody Marine, a worldwide technical services firm with its head office in England, is the largest certifier of MSC fisheries worldwide. Moody Marine was hired by the Nova Scotia Swordfisherman’s Association, the organization that represents the pelagic longline fleet in Atlantic Canada, to assess their fishery. Moody Marine then hired a team of experts who found that the fishery passed the MSC standard for a sustainable fishery.

The EAC, on the periphery of this process, provided advice and information and highlighted relevant issues for the Moody Marine experts throughout the assessment. Left unsatisfied by the decision to certify the fishery, the EAC and other environmental groups made an official objection to the MSC directly. This was dealt with by MSC appointed adjudicator, Wylie Spicer.

According to Spicer's decision, he did not see it as his role to give the evidence and conclusions reached by Moody Marine a thorough second look. Rather, he deferred to the authority of the Moody Marine's role as certifier and limited his task to determining whether the organization's decision was “so unreasonable that no certification body could have come to that conclusion.” This limited view of the adjudication meant that there was very little within the objection that Spicer would actually comment on.

“I was surprised that this fishery, with its evidently high bycatch, did not meet the criteria for an objection,” says May. “I established the objections procedure around ten years ago ... It was, and I assume still is, designed to give stakeholders a final opportunity to present their case against a proposed certification. To my knowledge, however, no objection has ever been upheld, which must lead to some asking why it exists at all.”

Nikoloyuk and the EAC are asking question of their own. “It makes us wonder why a group like ours would put all the effort into participating in this if we are not going to be able to affect the outcome at all,” says Nikoloyuk.

The EAC has been involved in other MSC assessments, such as the Atlantic Canadian harpoon swordfish fishery, which was certified in 2010. This fishery targets one swordfish at a time with a modern-day spear. This fishing method has no bycatch and only catches mature swordfish and the EAC fully supports its certification.

Nikoloyuk says “[The swordfish harpoon fishery is] a Nova Scotian fishery that is environmentally sustainable, could be marketed with very high value and be something we could be proud of. I think the [longline] certification diminishes that.”

The harpoon fishery only holds ten per cent of Canada's swordfish quota and the longline fishery holds 90 per cent.

The MSC doesn't see any problem with two fisheries of contrasting scales and impacts both being certified as sustainable under their standard. “All fisheries go through the same process and they have to meet the same criteria in order to become MSC-certified,” says Lugar.

Lugar says the MSC standard reflects global best practices, but Nikoloyuk says that Canada's longline swordfishery is far from a global best and advocates looking at what some other longline fisheries are doing that Canada is not.

“What the Hawaii longline fishery for tunas has done is set a hard cap on the number of endangered sea turtles that can get caught every year,” says Nikoloyuk. “So in Hawaii it is 18 loggerhead and 18 leatherback turtles. Combined with that, they have 100 per cent observer coverage, which is key because when the fishery as a whole goes over 18 it gets shut down for the season.”

Observers are independent fisheries technicians who collect data from on board fishing vessels about what is caught, how much is caught and where it is caught. Canada's observer coverage has fluctuated from five to eight per cent since 2004 and has no hard caps or legally binding limits for bycatch.

Despite the issues with the MSC process, Nikoloyuk says: “We would really like to see a strong viable Marine Stewardship Council labeling system. It's enormously valuable to have one really good, really dependable certification ... I don't think it helps anyone to have a Marine Stewardship Council that got watered down, got some bad fisheries in it and isn't reliable.”

The EAC, David Suzuki Foundation and Sea Turtle Conservancy are currently drafting a formal letter to Whole Foods Market, requesting that it not carry Canadian longline-caught swordfish. Whole Foods is the largest retailer of MSC-certified swordfish and the NGOs hope that the retailer will help communicate the issues with the fishery and the certification process back to the MSC.

It turns out, however, that Whole Foods has already taken longline caught sword-fish off the menu.

“Prior to Earth Day 2011, we eliminated all swordfish and tuna from red-ranked fisheries,” says Carrie Brownstein, Whole Foods’ Seafood Quality Standards Coordinator. Canadian longline-caught swordfish is ranked as red by both SeaChoice and Seafood Watch, two sustainable seafood guides also used by Whole Foods. As such, it would have been removed from the shelves and replaced by other sources of swordfish.

Brownstein says that this move helped to forge longer-term commitments between Whole Foods and smaller niche suppliers of swordfish such as the Nova Scotia harpoon fishermen.

When asked if Whole Foods will re-stock the shelves with Atlantic Canadian pelagic longline caught swordfish once it is MSC certified, Brownstein replied, “Our purchasing decisions depend upon a number of factors and—as with any product—we’ll evaluate all of the science out there before making a final decision on what to sell.”

Brownstein says that Whole Foods considers MSC certification to be the gold standard, so the worry is that once certified it will go back on the shelves even though nothing has changed and it is still ranked as red by these other seafood guides.

If Whole Foods decides to stock MSC-certified longline swordfish, the MSC will have opened the market door for the longline fishery to be branded as “sustainable.” This also stands to decrease the short-lived benefit to the truly sustainable harpoon swordfish fishery.

“I am still hopeful that one day the MSC will take ownership over its brand and remove it from [the pelagic longline] fishery's products,” says Nikoloyuk. “In the meantime we are asking retailers not to carry this product.”

Palmira Boutilier is a biologist and journalist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hector the Blue Shark

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit

Miles — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:32:19 +0000

HALIFAX—Public transit will be running again in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) this week, and until the end of March transit users will enjoy unlimited free rides on buses and ferries.

Metro Transit says the free fares are a way to “welcome our customers back on board and thank everyone for their patience” during the 41-day strike. The Coast, Halifax's alt-weekly, also reports that free fares may be a way to protect drivers from angry riders.

While there’s been no shortage of criticism of city council and Metro Transit management recently, the city does deserve credit for this rather enlightened decision. Besides giving bus riders a break from searching for exact change or buying tickets or passes, the move creates space to discuss what might seem like an out-there idea—moving to a permanent zero-fare public transit system.

Of course, as HRM councillors are fond of reminding us, running a public transit system isn’t truly “free.” Fares account for 37 per cent of the cost of running Halifax’s buses and ferries, according to soon-to-be ex-mayor Peter Kelly; the rest comes from general tax revenue. Kevin Lacey of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation apparently opposes the current no-fare deal, tweeting that “there’s no free ride your [sic] paying for it anyway!”

Still, an impressive handful of small to mid-sized cities around the world have deemed it worthwhile to implement some degree of free transit for commuters.

Removing fares from public transit encourages more people to use it, and more people riding buses, ferries, and streetcars is undoubtedly a good thing. Transporting 40 people on a bus is much more efficient than transporting those people in private cars, meaning less traffic congestion, less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and less public spending on road infrastructure and parking lots.

Presumably, Metro Transit is aiming to stem a decline in bus ridership, which is a typical consequence of a transit strike. Ridership declined four per cent after the last bus strike ended in Halifax 14 years ago, according to Metro Transit’s own figures.

Indeed, long-term zero-fare transit systems have been shown to increase ridership by up to 50 per cent, according to a 2002 study by the US Department of Transportation (DOT).

Of course, notes the study, removing fares on its own likely doesn’t result in fewer motorists on the road. Where public transit is slow, inconvenient, or unavailable, commuters stick to their cars—ridership increases in fare-free zones are partly due to people taking the bus when they otherwise might have walked or cycled. Transit consultant Jarrett Walker told Halifax Magazine recently that when Metro Transit increased the frequency of the number 1 bus, ridership increased 17 per cent.

“Frequency is freedom,” Walker said.

It’s important to note that going fare-free can also save money for public transit systems, who no longer have to pay for ticket printing; farebox collection, maintenance and personnel costs; and insurance.

The DOT study says that fare-free systems can work especially well in smaller transit systems, and lists several success stories from around the U.S.; other lists of cities can be found on Wikipedia and at http://freepublictransports.com (a list that includes Halifax for its summer FRED service).

Interestingly, the DOT study recommends against free fares for larger centres, noting that zero-fare experiments in the 1970s led to “dramatic rates of vandalism, graffiti, and rowdiness due to younger passengers who could ride the system for free,” and the “presence of vagrants on board buses [who] also discouraged choice riders and caused increased complaints from long-time passengers.”

Putting aside the offensive question of who the study considers a "choice rider," it’s true that a poorly implemented free-fare plan might be worse than none at all. (The study notes that some free-fare experiments caused a backlash from drivers experiencing more difficult working conditions, and ended up driving away customers.) That doesn’t mean it can’t, or shouldn’t, be done. There are movements toward free public transit in Toronto and New York (mayor Michael Bloomberg apparently supports the idea in principle), and just last week the idea was raised at a talk sponsored by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

Should we be talking about it in Halifax too? Don’t forget that car travel is heavily subsidized as a matter of course, with governments across the country spending billions each year on highways, bridges, tax breaks for car companies and business that use vehicles, and the like. Construction of the Halifax Washmill Lake Underpass was approved by council last year even though it was $8 million over budget—$2.4 million more than the net increase to Metro Transit’s budget over the next five years, after the new contract negotiated with the transit workers’ union.

Let's keep free transit on the agenda after March 31.

Ben Sichel is a teacher and writer in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Burning transit ticket