Comments Off on Banner Drop in Solidarity with Gidimt’en
Oct032021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
In the early morning of September 30th, the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we dropped a banner in solidarity with the Gidimt’en Camp. Our banner read “Shut Down Canada ’21 #CGLOffTheYintah”.
Wet’suwet’en and their supporters have been defending the Yintah from Coastal GasLink and RCMP incursion for many years. They continue to defend their land as Canada gestures emptily towards reconciliation. On September 25th, The Gidimt’en Access Point erected new blockades to stop CGL from drilling under the Wedzin Kwa, the river running through their territory. Since then, at least two arrests have occurred.
They’ve called for supporters to come help defend the camp, but also for everyone to organize in solidarity from where they are. We hope to see more actions, in our city and beyond, as those on the frontline continue to face cops and CGL workers.
As the sun set, our banner was still in place on the bridge. We hope it will be in it for the long haul, just like our solidarity!
Comments Off on RBC Targeted in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders
Oct022021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Canada is a lie. Reconciliation is dead. After night fell on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, RBC was targeted in the center of Montreal’s financial district. The Royal Bank of Canada is an investor in the Coastal GasLink pipeline. While they stage orange shirt photo ops to proclaim their commitment to reconciliation, CGL is attempting to drill under Wedzin Kwa, the sacred headwaters of the Wet’suwet’en people, with the help of the RCMP threatening, arresting, and torturing land defenders.
By morning they covered up the message we left them: “RBC funds colonialism. CGL off the Yintah”. Ashamed, RBC?
Reconciling with Canada’s genocidal history means confronting the institutions and infrastructures that reproduce colonial violence in the present. CGL, its investors, and the RCMP are playing with fire by prolonging their occupation of Wet’suwet’en territory.
Comments Off on Wet’suwet’en Territory: Gidimt’en Barricade CGL Access Road and Make Urgent Call for Support; RCMP Arrest One
Sep262021
FromGidimt’en Checkpoint
On September 22nd, 2021, after days of conflict between Gidimt’en/Cas Yikh Chiefs and members, Coastal GasLink and the RCMP, contractors completely cleared an archaeological site which has been destroyed with heavy machinery for the construction of a methane gas pipeline.
On the morning of September 26th, the access road to Coastal GasLink’s drill site was destroyed. A series of blockades were put into place and the site was occupied. When the chiefs arrived onsite, they were threatened with arrest and denied access to their territory. One person was arrested during the occupation. Wet’suwet’en chiefs are trying to protect the sacred head waters of Wedzin Kwa. We cannot let them drill under this river.
This call out is for all warriors upholding indigenous rights and sovereignty. For everyone who has dreams of being sovereign peoples. We call on everyone to stand up and make your voices heard. We need boots on the ground! Come to the yintah even if just for the day locally. Snecalyegh to all those sacrificing for Wedzin Kwa and our future generations.
For all Indigenous people that have ever dreamed of liberation we need you now to stand and say: “The genocide will no longer happen on Indigenous lands!” We are controlling access to the drill pad site. This project does not have the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of our Dinï ze’ and Tsakë ze.’ We have said many times within our balhats that no pipelines shall ever cross our territory. Now Wedzin kwa is under imminent threat. Come to the yintah now.
Another big protest for climate, what’s the point?
Of course it’ll be nice to have as many people as there was in 2019, but in the end, even Greta couldn’t make our governments change their policies. Well, ok, it falls a few days after the federal election, and we can hope that it can put some pressure on the newly elected officials… But we know it won’t: whoever is in power after the elections, nothing significant will be done, nothing significant has ever been done for climate in so-called Canada. Since the beginning of colonization, the State steals, exploits and destroys the land on which we live and which, ironically, ensure our survival. It is however important to note that many political parties have clearly played their card: these political parties will continue to invest in pipelines and other ecocidal projects, until death do us part. And these parties, who are happily walking toward our collective deaths, should obtain most, even almost all of our votes. In Québec, as the writing of this call, more than 80% of the votes are going to political parties with an horrific ecological policy history.
We can complain about the useless bickering going on at the parliament, but we can see that the problem goes beyond that. Most of the population does not want to change, and want to perpetuate their unsustainable lifestyle as long as possible.
And why should we blame them? Capitalism keeps selling this lifestyle, through shitty publicity pushing us to buy useless crap, through repetitive movies glorifying the rich and powerful, through a mercantilist education system which sells diplomas based on an expected salary… And the State follows suit, promising young families the possibility to buy a house. We are however very aware that the young generation will never be able to buy a house! And frankly, everyone getting a house would be a urban sprawl nightmare and a perpetuation of a toxic car culture…
But this is the lifestyle that the system hammers constantly into our daily lives, the so-called “american dream” they try to push down our throats. But this lifestyle sold by the Capital spells death for Earth, and therefore death for us all. And so, if the Capital wants to keep bugging us with this unsustainable lifestyle, well too bad, we will go without the Capital!
And so what if we are but a tiny minority who still worries about its future. So what if most of the world still dreams of big fucking cars, big fucking houses, and big fucking all-paid vacations in the south. We won’t stay on our asses while the world burns! We won’t stay arms crossed while capitalism sells the last few remnants of the world!
THE CAPITAL DESTROY THE EARTH? DESTROY CAPITAL!
We’ll see you in the anticapitalist contingent!
Friday, September 24th, 1PM, in front of the George-Étienne-Cartie statue
In different parts of the colonized territories, there’s been tearing down, demolishing or destruction of statues of slavers, rapists, colonizers and genociders. Why let go of these symbols? What do they represent? And what values keeps them standing?
This episode features an interview with Skyler Williams of 1492 Land Back Lane, a land reclamation on the edge of the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve near Caledonia, Ontario. This week marks the one year anniversary of the camp which was reclaimed last July in response to plans to develop a subdivision on Six Nations Territory. Skyler speaks about a year spent at the camp, the recent announcement that the McKenzie Meadows subdivision has been cancelled by the developer because of Six Nations resistance, and what’s next for folks at Land Back Lane.
Music in this show is all from artists who have performed at Land Back Lane: Six Nations singer-songwriters Derek Miller and Logan Staats, as well as Ottawa-based “powwow-step” group The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red.
Comments Off on 1492 Land Back Lane Forces Cancellation of McKenzie Meadows Development
Jul042021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
After nearly a year of re-occupying a tract of land slated for a settler housing development of around 200 homes, Six Nations members have successfully forced the cancellation of the project. Haudenosaunee land defenders and their supporters have been occupying the 25-acre site since July 19th, 2020. They have survived a raid, dozens of arrests, constant surveillance by the OPP as well as CSIS, and court orders from racist judges.
On July 1st, Canada Day took another hit when it was announced that Foxgate Developments — a joint venture between Losani Homes and Ballantry Homes – had been forced to cancel the project and would be returning deposits to their prospective homeowners.
In the words of Skyler Williams, spokesperson for Land Back Lane:
“I think this is a big statement to Indigenous communities and to all of Turtle Island … these wins are attainable. I think we have an opportunity to be able to say to the feds and the province that if our community says no to these developments, whether that’s massive housing developments or resource destruction — if we say no to that and we stand behind it, these wins are possible.”
While the developers were able to raze the site, removing all the trees and grass from the area before the occupation began, land defenders have since planted an orchard, a community garden, installed multiple tiny homes, and built two small buildings on the site. Foxgate cited the “evolution of the project from a temporary camp to a site with more permanent buildings” as one of the reasons for the cancellation of their development.
The news of the cancellation is a wonderful partial victory but the struggle is not over; at least 50 people have been charged in connection to Land Back Lane, and people will continue to occupy the site while it remains under injunction. Foxgate also initiated a $200 million lawsuit against the Indigenous land defenders and others in April.
“We do have to take a moment to celebrate those wins, but understand that the work is only just beginning,” Skyler said. “This is just the very foot of the mountain.”
Land Back Lane is still asking for donations to their camp/build fund by e-transfering landback6nations@gmail.com
Comments Off on From MTL to Sask: Long Live Cory Cardinal!
Jun162021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
We were shocked and saddened to learn of Cory Cardinal’s death from a suspected overdose this week, so we headed out late on the night of June 12th to paint the walls of our neighbourhood in his memory.
Cory was a poet, writer, artist, and prison organizer from Sturgeon Lake First Nation. We came to know of him and his work during the Saskatchewan prison hunger strikes in the earlier days of the pandemic, when he acted as an organizer and did media work from inside while participating.
Cory understood and articulated the connections between the systems of prison and colonialism and he fought, inside and out, to bring them both down.
“It is true we have been targeted as Aboriginal men by a racist system. Despite this epidemic of incarceration, our resilient community of modern Aboriginal warriors has survived by will and creative ambition to prevail over many an enemy of poverty, addiction, and racism to find community and belonging and acceptance in this mainstream model of humanity. It is not by our own standards, for we are an oppressed people.”
Our thoughts, solidarity, and love are with his family, friends, and comrades.
We’ll continue to direct our rage towards prisons, colonialism, and this world that criminalizes and kills people who use drugs.
