Unceded Algonquin Territory/Ottawa, December 6, 2011 -- The Defenders of the Land (DotL), a network of Indigenous Communities, on Tuesday condemned reports that in 2007, the Harper government established a national and international police surveillance network to spy on Indigenous Peoples and their supporters for defending Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and land rights. The RCMP surveillance operation shared its findings with private industry.
aboriginal land and title
Dechinta Bush University Centre was misrepresented during Royal visit
When they came to our unceded territory, William and Kate were shown traditional Dene practices and told they play a key role in engaging in decolonization. The media treated it as arts and crafts.
Related rabble.ca story:
Dechinta Bush University Centre was misrepresented during Royal visit
During their recent tour of Canada, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Blachford Lake Lodge on the traditional and unceded territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. The July 5 stopover began with demonstrations by the 1st Canadian Rangers Patrol Group, composed mainly of Inuit members.
From there, the royals began a tour of Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning. Dechinta is a post-secondary education initiative providing Indigenous and non-Indigenous students with much-needed opportunities to take university-accredited courses developed in the North, led by Northern experts, and focused on the land as the primary teacher.
Privatizing First Nation land would be disastrous
A debate that has been swirling around in Indian Country has gathered more speed recently.
The issue revolves around Indian land and its ownership status. Should it be privatized or should it stay as a part of a collective? The question about what to do with Indian land has always been on the table.
In the early part of the 20th century, after most of the available land was opened for settlement, land speculators cast greedy eyes upon Indian land. We were considered a vanishing race at the time, with much more land than we needed.
Fractured Homeland recounts Algonquin struggle for identity and nationhood
Fractured Homeland: Federal Recognition and Algonquin Identity in Ontario
(UBC Press,
2012;
$37.81)
Bonita Lawrence presents to us a labour of devoted love. A book that takes 10 years to write cannot easily be summed up in a few paragraphs, but the lasting impression that it leaves, is a clearer picture of the complicated history of the destruction of Algonquin culture and identity and the current struggle to redefine their communities and reclaim geographic, legal and human rights within a government that once promised, and took, so much and left so little.
KI Big Trout Lake plans to take water protection declaration to UN
The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations in northwestern Ontario are loudly asserting their sovereignty in a landmark declaration that opposes harmful industrial activity on their lands. The KI Water Declaration and Protocols passed in early July with support from voters in a community referendum.
Speaking out against an unwanted Quebec mine
The Algonquin community of Barriere Lake, Quebec, have for weeks been confronting a new threat to their unceded indigenous territory.
Cartier Resources -- a Val d'Or based corporation -- has begun line-cutting in preparation for its mining exploration. According to its website, the mining company claims that their "100 per cent owned" land base of 439 sq. km boasts rich copper deposits ripe for exploitation.
The question is, owned by who?
