The Aboriginal Justice Team of Christian Peacemaker Teams has participated in the initiative to encourage the governments of Canada and the United States to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On 12 November 2010, Canada finally endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Canada was one of four countries that initially voted against the Declaration when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007.  Since then, Australia, New Zealand, and now Canada, have all reversed their positions and officially support the Declaration.  The only country that has not acknowledged the Declaration is the United States.  The Declaration is the result of more than twenty years of discussions and negotiations, making it one of the most carefully designed instruments to support human rights on an international level.

Click on Support the Rights of Indigenous People – An Appeal to the President of the United States.

The small room rang with the sounds of synchronous drumbeats.  Eight women in a range of ages hit the large drum while their voices cried out the “Warrior Song.”  Young girls took their turns at leading the song, their voices rising above the beat.  These women are the future of Asubpeechoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows, Ontario).

Community members, including the October CPT delegation to Kenora/Grassy Narrows, gathered on the evening of 4 October 2010 to remember the lives of 582 Aboriginal women. The Native Woman's Association of Canada's Sisters in Spirit (SIS) initiative had set aside this day to honour women who have disappeared or been murdered in Canada over the last twenty years. 

On 25 May 2010, the Simcoe County Council voted to ask the Ministry of the Environment of the Province of Ontario to revoke the Certificate of Approval for Dump Site 41. The Ministry immediately approved the request. The  pure water of the Alliston Aquifer has been protected indefinitely, at least in this location.

Common sense and environmental activism have won a huge victory. This protest came out of a wonderful period of cooperation and mutual trust among Indigenous people, local farmers, residents of nearby towns and churches and activists from environmental and other NGOs, including the  Aboriginal Justice Team of Christian Peacemaker Teams. 

The logo for the County of Simcoe on the “Notice of Project” posted at Dump Site 41 in Tiny Township reads “for the greater good.”  But members of the nearby Beausoleil First Nation, thousands of neighbouring farmers, cottagers, and other non-Native citizens believe that neither their interests nor the environment is well-served by the decision of County Council to build a dump site directly above ground water that scientific studies have identified as of the purest quality.

"They have to stop raping Mother Earth," says Vicki Monague, one of five Beausoleil First Nation women who have been leading ongoing nonviolent direct actions at the site since the County began digging and deaquification commenced in late March. By then, more than two decades of citizen campaigns against a dump above the aquifer had failed. 

As traditional Keepers of the Water, the Beausoleil women set up a legal encampment on the Parnell family farm across the road from the dump site on 14 May 2009.  On 6 July, when the County stepped up work, the women, soon joined by citizens from the surrounding communities, blockaded the site's entrances.

CPT sent its first four person team to the blockade on 13 July because police arrests at the site became a real possibility.  Full-time CPT accompaniment began on 19 July.  Team members are currently joining the Anishinabe women and local citizens at the blockades, listening to the stories of the ongoing struggle with County Council, sharing stories of nonviolent struggle, and documenting police presence. 

You can see photos of the action here: http://cpt.org/gallery/Dump-Site-41-album-2

Haudenosaunee prophets are speaking some hard truths that Canadians, especially Canadian Christians, need to hear about land claims.  Two Row Understanding through Education (TRUE) is an attempt by some settler (i.e., non-indigenous) neighbours of the Six Nations (Haudenosaunee) community to create a meeting space for learning more about the first agreements that made it possible for newcomers to settle on this land.  "Two Row" refers to the Two Row Wampum Treaty—the first agreement between Haudenosaunee inhabitants and Dutch settlers—not to interfere with each other but rather to live in cooperation and harmony.

TRUE emerged in the context of organized non-natives harassing and attacking the Haudenosaunee after the latter reclaimed land that non-native commercial development is altering beyond repair.  Since the original Haldimand Tract—ten kilometers on either side of the Grand River source to mouth—was deeded in 1784 to Chief Joseph Brant and the Haudenosaunee for their allegiance to Britain during the American Revolution, agents of the British and successor Canadian governments have seized land and misappropriated funds from leases held in trust for the Haudenosaunee.  Less than 5% of the Tract remains under the control of the Haudenosaunee.  Of the twenty-nine well-documented land claims registered with the Federal government on portions of the other 95% of the land, only one has been settled.  All claims have languished in the Government’s hands from thirteen to twenty-eight years.  

At approximately 10:00 a.m., our delegation enters the Kenora museum.  We have decided to visit its permanent exhibit and take a historic walking tour through the town, led by a local theater troop and sponsored by the museum.  Since we arrived a few days ago, we have mostly met people from or close to Aboriginal communities in the area; we are wondering how the museum will integrate their side of the story.

Corporate clear-cut logging of Asubpeeschoseewagong traditional territory has destroyed hunting, trapping, food, and medicine gathering activities.  Indian Residential Schools have deeply damaged families and communities.  Mercury contamination discovered over forty years ago continues to poison residents. 

Explore what it means to live in right relationship with the earth and each other.  Find out what it means to be an ally to indigenous communities engaged in healing, resisting colonialism, and struggling for sovereignty.  From a base in the city of Kenora, and through visits to Asubpeeschoseewagong traditional lands, the delegations will meet with and learn from Indigenous and non-Indigenous community leaders and residents.
 
Delegates will develop an analysis of colonialism, participate in undoing racism training and plan, and/or participate in events as allies in the struggle for justice and dignity for Indigenous peoples.

 The Algonquin First Nation of Barriere Lake is celebrating the suspension of work on its territory by mining company Cartier Resources Inc.  In March 2011, the community discovered ongoing copper mining exploration on their traditional lands.  When the Algonquins explained their opposition, the workers on site, mostly from Mistassini and Oujebougaou First Nations, stopped work and left.…

A recent community referendum in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) passed with 96% support for both a Watershed Declaration protecting Big Trout Lake, and a Consultation Protocol detailing the methodology the community will use in assessing development proposals on the rest of KI territory.…