Indigenous Rights

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

On January 8th and 9th, 2007, hundreds of police and soldiers in Guatemala forcibly evicted the inhabitants of several communities who were living on lands that a Guatemalan military government had granted to Canadian mining company INCO in 1965. Local indigenous people claim the land to be theirs, and resent the exploitation of a foreign corporation. Canada's Skye Resources now lays claim to the land, and paid workers a nominal sum to destroy people's homes.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

After weeks of delay and two adjournments, Wahgoshig First Nation finally had its day in court on December 20, 2011. The hearing of Wahgoshig's injunction motion lasted the full day and went in to the early evening. A decision is expected in mid-late January.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

In the last two weeks there has been an intense media storm around the current housing crisis in Attawapiskat, a remote Cree community on the coast of James Bay. One element of the story that’s getting some attention and is of particular interest to MiningWatch is the fact that the community is ‘host’ to DeBeers’ Victor diamond mine, located 90 km west of the community, upstream on the Attawapiskat River, within the traditional territory of the Omushkego Cree. The juxtaposition is stark: a diamond mine producing millions of dollars of a sparkling luxury item, next to the poverty and infrastructure deficits in Attawapiskat. It has led people to ask us: if there are millions of dollars of diamonds being taken from their traditional territory, why aren’t the conditions in the community improving?

Friday, December 2, 2011

Wilkes, James. Decolonizing Environmental Management: A Case Study of Kitchenuhmaykoosib InninuwugBy James Wilkes. This study was done as a Masters thesis at Trent University and is posted here at the request of the author. Canadian environmental management involving Indigenous communities is at a crossroads. First Nation communities in regions holding mineral and other natural resources are coping with legal, economic and political pressures to comply with government and industry demands for resource extraction and exploitation.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Robert Del Tredici has travelled the world taking photographs to tell the "story of uranium". In this video, the relates a brief history of Port Radium, once known as the "village of widows".

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Lawyer Murray Klippenstein says consultation for aboriginal peoples facing mining projects is roughly equivalent to city officials showing up at your door to notify you your home is no longer yours. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Canada’s largest labour federation is demanding that Ontario respect Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) Nation’s moratorium to protect their burials and sacred lands from desecration by mining exploration. Ontario has allowed exploration company God’s Lake Resources to stake claims directly on top of sacred KI burials. The company has dismissed KI’s concerns as rhetoric, indicating that they intend to continue exploration at the site in December.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

News release: Wahgoshig First Nation is going to court on December 1, 2011 to seek an urgent injunction to immediately stop drilling operations in a sacred area of Wahgoshig’s traditional territory. The area is immediately adjacent to the Wahgoshig reserve and is known to contain burial grounds as well as other archaeological sites. It is also an area frequented by Wahgoshig community members for hunting, trapping, fishing, medicine gathering, and ceremonial activities.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Open letter: At a time of increased activity of Canadian companies in Colombia and following implementation of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, Canadian ecumenical and civil society organizations are calling upon the Canadian Embassy in Bogotá to ensure that Canadian companies respect the right of communities to free, prior, and informed consent, as enshrined in national and international law. The letter is a response to an urgent action issued by the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Indigenous Resguardo in the department of Caldas.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Today marks the anniversary of the Federal Government’s decision rejecting the Prosperity Mine proposal and protecting the environment, waters, fish and fish habitat, grizzly and grizzly habitat and our constitutionally protected rights as First Peoples in our homelands.   Once again, we thank the Minister of Environment Jim Prentice and the Federal Government for protecting the public interest and for upholding the rights of First Nations under the Canadian Constitution. Unfortunately, this dire threat to our people, our lands and our way of life as Tsilhqot’in people continues to this day.