Tag: Indigenous

We will lift each other up: Day 177 update from 1492 Land Back Lane

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Back in court again today. Many of the 40 arrestees are up in a Cayuga court room facing a vast array of charges. The continuation of the criminalization of land defenders and settler allies.

It is absolutely infuriating that we are talking UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action while jailing our people for simply standing up for lands that the government has admitted they had taken unjustly. The perpetuation of this centuries old agenda of land theft. Read More …

Old Myths, New Peoples: The “Eastern Métis” and Indigenous Erasure

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The era of Justin Trudeau’s state-led reconciliation is desperately trying to keep itself alive. As it crumbles, something raw and real is laid bare (again): how desperate many white settlers are to get on the right side of history by telling and collecting stories about how different things are “now” from “back then”. One of these stories has always been about a romanticized, state-led version of reconciliation. Read More …

You Blew it, Hewitt: Details of Haldimand Mayor’s Financial Ties to Developers

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Under capitalism, it is money that often makes the election.

If someone receive lots of donations for their mayoral candidacy, they get to dominate the airwaves and the lawn signs and have schmoozy events.

We also know incumbents have the advantages of visibility and stability.

Stability in the sense that people don’t need to take a risk; they can choose the known evil and see it as lesser because, mostly, change is scary.

And of course, money and position equals power, and power corrupts.

With the racist shit the Haldimand mayor has been spouting off lately about Indigenous people at the Six Nations landback reclamation site, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Ken Hewitt is somehow personally invested in this project. Read More …

Six Nations: Call for an End to Criminalization of Land Defenders: Day of Solidarity October 9th

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In the past week, ten people have been arrested in connection to 1492 Land Back Lane. These include Allies who are non-Indigenous and people from other Haudenosaunee communities, as well as Mohawk researcher Courtney Skye and Oneida journalist Karl Dockstader.

Arresting our kin and allies is an escalation of violence on behalf of the OPP. Canada is choosing how to address our concerns and issues, and they have chosen to use police violence and criminalization instead of engaging with our community. Read More …

1492 Landback Lane Solidarity Demo in Hamilton

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Last Sunday (on August 23rd), I showed up at a public demo in support of the 1492 Landback Lane reclamation site on Six Nations of the Grand River territory. I saw the event page on Facebook and was really glad for an opportunity to support the land defenders out there. It is absolutely disgusting that the OPP decided to raid the camp and kick Haudenosaunee people off of their own land, and to use such force to boot. Read More …

Caledonia: Account of the Raid at the 1492 Landback Lane Reclamation Site

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On July 19th, a group of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders along with some allies began peacefully occupying a portion of their unceded territory that had been cleared for development in so-called Caledonia. The site was expected to become a housing development by the name of McKenzie Meadows and has now been renamed 1492 Landback Lane. A few weeks later, on August 5th, the site was violently raided by the OPP which saw many Indigneous folks forcibly removed from their territory.    Read More …

Baden: Interview on the Campaign to Remove Sir John A Statue

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This is a short interview with Cheyanne Thorpe, an Indigenous woman and resident of Waterloo Region, who has been organising protests and public pressure against the placement of the Sir John A MacDonald statue in a public park in Baden Ontario.  The statue, part of the “prime ministers walk” project was located in Baden with little support, after residents in Kitchener and Waterloo rejected the idea that the project be built in their cities. Read More …

Flyers for distribution #shutdowncanada

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These flyers were produced with the intention to disrupt the liberal narratives surrounding the Wet’suwet’en struggle, and the activism we have seen emerge as a result of the most recent waves of state violence. Simultaneously we are inspired by the actions of many of our comrades, especially the Mohawk blockades and those engaged in militant demos and sabotage. We hope these flyers continue to feed the fire of insurrection. Read More …

Reconciliation is Dead: A Strategic Proposal

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Reconciliation is dead. It’s been dead for some time.

If only one thing has brought me joy in the last few weeks, it began when the matriarchs at Unist’ot’en burned the Canadian flag and declared reconciliation dead. Like wildfire, it swept through the hearts of youth across the territories. Out of their mouths, with teeth bared, they echoed back: reconciliation is dead! reconciliation is dead! Their eyes are more keen to the truth so many of our older generation have been too timid to name. The Trudeau era of reconciliation has been a farce from the beginning. It has been more for settler Canadians than natives all along.

“Reconciliation is dead” is a battle cry.

It means the pressure to live up to our side of the bargain is over. The younger generation have dropped the shackles to the ground. Perhaps we are moving into a new time, one where militancy takes the place of negotiation and legal challenge. A time where we start caring less about what the colonizer’s legal and moral judgement and more about our responsibilities. Read More …

Injunction served and burnt at Tyendinaga rail blockade as numbers grow

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TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY – The rail blockade at the Wyman crossing in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory has grown in size and scope since it began Thursday afternoon. A camper trailer, porta-potty and tent have all arrived on site. And the number of people present is growing.

The reason for the blockade is simple, according to Dalton McKay. “I’m here for the support and solidarity of the Wet’suwet’en people to help support them against the destruction of their life and their homes for a pipeline,” he told Real People’s Media. Read More …