Video: Shut Down Canada – Port Metro Vancouver

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kuJHTkV1MtM“>

A short video on the #Shutdown Canada action at a main entrance to the Port of Vancouver (Clark Drive and Hastings Street) on Friday, Feb 13, 2015.  Posted by Bear on Feb 16, 2015.

#Shutdown Canada Causes Minor Economic Disruption

Vancouver, BC, blockade of Port of Vancouver. Photo by Murray Bush, Flux Photos, via Vancouver Media Coop.

by Warrior Publications, Feb 13, 2015

#Shutdown Canada actions have taken place in some 23 cities and towns across the country with the intention of causing economic disruption.  The action was called by grassroots Natives and organized primarily through social media to highlight the cases of over 1,100 missing and murdered Indigenous women. 

Victory in prospect for Peru’s Kichwa People after 40 years of oil pollution

A young Kichwa girl at blockade, photo by David Hill.

David Hill, The Ecologist, Feb 10, 2015

A month-long blockade of the Rio Tigre deep in the Peruvian Amazon has secured promises of compensation and cleanup for Peru’s Kichwa communities who have suffered 40 years of contaminated waters from oil drilling operations in their remote Amazon region. But until the funds materialize, they are holding firm in their resolve.

Hundreds of of Kichwa indigenous people living along the River Tigre in the remote Peruvian Amazon are demanding over 100 million Peruvian nuevo soles ($32 million / £21 million) from oil company Pluspetrol in the “environmental damages” they have sustained over 40 years of oil drilling.

Peru’s Indigenous People Blockade Oil Company on River Tigre

Kichwas protesting in the northern Peruvian Amazon following more than 40 years of oil operations in their territories. Photograph: Feconat

Kichwa communities bar River Tigre, an Amazon tributary, with cables to stop oil company boats from passing and accuse government of turning a blind eye to contamination from oil operations in the forest

by David Hill, The Guardian, Feb 2, 2015

Hundreds of indigenous people deep in the Peruvian Amazon are blocking a major Amazon tributary following what they say is the government’s failure to address a social and environmental crisis stemming from oil operations.

Kichwa men, women and children from numerous communities have been protesting along the River Tigre for almost a month, barring the river with cables and stopping oil company boats from passing.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger apologizes to Cross Lake First Nation for damage done by dam

Graphic: APTN.

APTN National News, Jan 20, 2015
CROSS LAKE, Man. – Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger apologized to a northern Aboriginal community Tuesday for damage caused by a hydro-electric dam.

Selinger agreed to visit Cross Lake First Nation following a six-week occupation of the Jenpeg generating station last fall.

Protesters had said they wouldn’t leave the grounds of the dam until they received a personal apology from the premier. They say the hydro developments affected hunting, fishing, trapping and water quality. It also led to flooding and loss of cultural identity.

Ontario gives green light to clearcutting at Grassy Narrows

Grassy Narrows youth blockade logging trucks, 2002.

Ministry of Environment rejects First Nations request for second look at forest management plan

By Jody Porter, CBC News, Dec 30, 2014

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has cleared the way for logging to resume near Grassy Narrows First Nation after rejecting the community’s request for an individual environmental assessment.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had approved a new forest management plan in 2013 that includes cutting trees on the First Nation’s traditional territory. But the community, already a victim of historic mercury poisoning from a nearby pulp mill, was seeking a more thorough examination of the link between logging and mercury in the environment.

Gitxsan chiefs blockade highway to protest government’s LNG project approvals

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs blocking Highway 16 at New Hazelton, BC, Dec 6, 2014.

Jenny Uechi, Vancouver Observer, Dec 7, 2014

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs blocked Highway 16 at New Hazelton, in northern B.C. on Saturday, to protest recent LNG project approvals by the BC Environmental Assessment Office. The chiefs say the projects could collapse the salmon population in the Skeena River if built.

“The Gitxsan people have relied on salmon for thousands of years. The importance of salmon far outweighs any of the financial benefits that are and may be offered in the future for these LNG pipelines,” Spookw hereditary chief Guuhadakwa (Norm Stephens) stated in a release.

RCMP Serve Injunction to Northern Trappers Alliance “Holding the Line” Camp

from Earth First! Newswire, Dec 1, 2014

According to updates from the Northern Trappers Alliance, who have braved icy winter conditions to blockade oil and gas territories on their land, the RCMP have issued an injunction and have moved in.

The Dene alliance formed the blockade about a week and a half ago in order to maintain traplines and prevent industry vehicles from passing through. The camp, called Holding the Line, is in a rural area of Saskatchewan, where the First Nations say that the energy industry is attempting to obstruct their lifeways.

Klabona Keepers served permanent injunction

The Klabona Keepers and their supporters gather outside the Terrace courts Nov. 26, 2014, photo by Josh Massey.

By JOSH MASSEY, Terrace Standard, November 26, 2014

Red Chris mine owner Imperial Metals has been granted a permanent injunction preventing a Tahltan group known as the Klabona Keepers from blocking access to the property north on Hwy37 North near Iskut.

The injunction, granted by Mr. Justice Robert Punnett of the B.C. Supreme Court this afternoon following a two-day hearing, prevents the activist group from impeding access to the mine at any point during its projected 28-year operation life.

Update: Trappers block northern Sask. road, says industry must consult with them

Trappers block northern Saskatchewan road, say industry must consult with them to protect the land, water, animal populations.  Facebook / Holding the Line – Northern Trapper Alliance.

By The Canadian Press, Nov 25, 2014

LA LOCHE, Sask. – A group who say they represent northern trappers have set up a road block in northern Saskatchewan. The Northern Trappers Alliance says it represents Dene people from the La Loche and Ducharme areas.

Organizer Don Montgrand says the blockade of the gravel road began Saturday and will block vehicles from companies that are drilling for minerals, oil or uranium. He says the peaceful blockade is to protect their fur block, one of 80 in the north.