Respectful greetings. Construction work is ongoing to strengthen the various Wet’suwet’en front lines. Meanwhile Coastal GasLink continues to push ahead with its fracked gas pipeline. The following are various opportunities for people with construction and other skills to stand with the Wet’suwet’en: ...
The first gun control law passed in Canada was given royal assent in 1886. It applied only to the Territories, inclusive of what is today Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The scope of this legislation would make even Trudeau blush. Section 101 of the North-West Territories Act made it illegal for anyone to own, use, transport, buy, or sell any firearms or ammunition for any purpose without the express written permission of the government. The law remained in place until 1905 when Saskatchewan and Alberta became provinces. The reasoning behind this bill, passed into law by the conservative Macdonald government, was to stamp out all remaining dissent against the Canadian state, especially by the Native and Métis inhabitants of the Territories, who in those days comprised the majority. Even with the leaders of the North-West Rebellion all brutally executed or exiled, the heavily-militarized North-West Mounted Police roaming the countryside, and the majority of the First Nations population corralled onto tiny reserves, the federal government felt the need to fully disarm the wild West. From that year on, the history of gun control in Canada has been a long history of the state disarming the people at the first flash of discontent. ...
Many of us in the environmental movement share a dream of a free society, in which people live together, caring for the land they inhabit. We imagine such a community as an autonomous zone, existing independently of the colonial, capitalist system we oppose. I am pleased to report that I now write these words from exactly such a place. I now find myself by the shore of Parrott Lake, on a territory belonging to the Sun House of the Likhts’amisyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. The exact place where we now camp was a Wet’suwet’en village site for many generations. In subsequent waves of colonial violence, the Wet’suwet’en were driven from this ancestral home. Now they have reclaimed it and are building a new village, which is be a place of cultural revitalization, of learning, of healing, and of stewardship of the land. ...
For at least the 8th time in less than two years, the racist and colonial John A. Macdonald Monument (1895) in Montreal has been vandalized by anti-colonial artists. Between the two nationalist holidays in Quebec - St-Jean Baptiste Day on June 24 and Canada Day on July 1 - the #MacdonaldMustFall group in Montreal once again targeted the controversial statue, this time with blue paint, for an anti-colonial message. ...
A warm greeting to our companions, It seems our meetings get warmer every year. We write to you as our planet reaches record breaking degradation and heads of industry make further plans still. We write to you as the canadian government engages in low-intensity warfare on Wet’suwet’en communities from the raid on Gidumt’en, the invasion of Unist’ot’en, surveillance, police checkpoints, armed patrols, to the perpetuation of murdered and missing indigenous women. Slow genocide without a name. ...
As the Victoria Day weekend begins, the Macdonald Monument and the Queen Victoria Statue at McGill have once again been vandalized. Montreal May Anarchists (MMA) sprayed the Macdonald Monument in anti-colonial green, and the Queen Victoria statue in anti-imperialist red. In the words of the #MacdonaldMustFall group: “John A. Macdonald was a white supremacist. He directly contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the brutal residential schools system, as well as other measures meant to destroy native cultures and traditions. He was racist and hostile towards non-white minority groups in Canada, openly promoting the preservation of a so-called “Aryan” Canada. He passed laws to exclude people of Chinese origin. He was responsible for the hanging of Métis martyr Louis Riel. Macdonald’s statue belongs in a museum, not as a monument taking up public space in Montreal”. ...
Since 1873, the Canadian government has been using the RCMP and all police services at their disposal to forcefully invade indigenous territory, helping to steal their land for resources and aid in their assimilation. Out west on Wet’suwet‘en territory in Northern BC the RCMP continue to harass individuals travelling to and from their homes, seizing cars and leaving youth and mothers stranded in the wilderness. In addition, police continue to keep the Wet’suwet’en from freely accessing hunting and fishing grounds and – as the spring thaw continues – areas where they would gather berries and medicines for sickness and ceremony. All this on behalf and in favour of TransCanada/TC Energy. ...
Dear Friends, Allies, Comrades, and Supporters, We are pleased to announce that preliminary work has begun on the Likhts’amisyu Spring Construction Camp. This project is an initiative being led by two hereditary chiefs of the Likhts’amisyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. For the past ten years, the Wet’suwet’en have been fiercely resisting pipeline development on their territories. Things came to a head back in January, when the RCMP raided a resistance camp on the territory of the Gidimt’en, another Wet’suwet’en clan. ...
UPDATES FROM THE FRONTLINES HEAL THE PEOPLE - DEFEND THE LAND 6TH ANNUAL SPRING CONSTRUCTION CAMP Volunteers Needed for Cabin Building Projects in May! Spring camp runs from May 6 to 31 With spring coming early to the north, plans are underway for new projects across WET’SUWET’EN TERRITORY, including cabin construction for WET’SUWET’EN PEOPLE. Following the invasion of our territories by RCMP and industry, we are continuing to reoccupy our lands – helping our people reconnect with, reclaim, and protect our homelands ...
April 24th and 25th, Montreal will host a “Nature Champions Summit” bringing together “major philanthropists, business leaders, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, Indigenous leaders and environment ministers from around the world”. While the planet burns, the poorest populations suffer the violent consequences of ecological disasters, and animal species rapidly disappear, politicians hope to gather peacefully for one more congress. We don’t need yet another summit organized by the Canadian state, known for its extractivist economy, and which just bought a pipeline for 4.5 billion dollars, telling us that a “new partnership” between a handful of ministers and major capitalists will save us from the climate crisis. These “Nature Champions” are responsible for the catastrophe in progress. There is no way we can let them continue to administer disaster with their hollow promises. ...
Montreal, March 24, 2019 – A landmark bronze statue to Queen Victoria, unveiled in 1900 and located on Sherbrooke Street at McGill University, was vandalized last night, in advance of the upcoming Demonstration Against Racism and Xenophobia. Queen Victoria statues in Montreal were targeted at least three times last year: this past Christmas Eve by Santa’s Rebel Elves, on Victoria Day by the Henri Paul Anti-Monarchy Brigade, and on St. Patrick’s Day (2018) by the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade itself. ...
MONTREAL, March 17, 2019, 5am – At dawn today, on the International Day Against Racism, the racist and colonial John A. Macdonald Monument (1895) was again vandalized with paint. This time, the #MacdonaldMustFall group in Montreal claims responsibility. Our action is undertaken in solidarity and support with worldwide actions and mobilizations against racism and fascism, including #UniteAgainstRacism demonstrations across Canada, coordinated by the Migrant Rights Network . ...