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Brent Patterson

Brent Patterson is a political activist and writer. He has worked in solidarity with revolutionary Nicaragua, advocated for the rights of prisoners in jails and federal prisons, taken part in civil disobedience actions in Toronto's financial district and at the Ontario legislature, and participated in street protests at the Battle of Seattle and at UN climate summits. He supported cross-country activism at The Council of Canadians for almost 20 years. Brent has a BA in political science from the University of Saskatchewan and an MA in international relations from York University. He lives in Ottawa on the traditional, unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Algonquin Nation.

Blog - Brent Patterson March 13
Image: Brent Patterson
Arms show announces intention to proceed despite coronavirus pandemic
Brent Patterson | In a shocking decision, the organizers of CANSEC say they still intend to convene a trade show in Ottawa that could bring together 12,000 people from 55 countries.
Blog - Brent Patterson March 7
San Luis de Palenque, Colombia. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Community leaders arrested after protesting Canadian oil company in Colombia
Brent Patterson | Concerns are being raised about a Toronto-based oil company's contract with the Colombian army following community protests against its operations.
Blog - Brent Patterson March 6
Image: Brent Patterson
Business is booming as Canada's largest arms fair comes to Ottawa
Brent Patterson | Those who buy and sell arms will be in town on May 27-28, but a major conference and protest says it's time to cancel CANSEC.
Blog - Brent Patterson February 27
Image: Gitxsan Huwilp Government/Facebook
Human rights concerns mount as Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and Mohawk land defenders arrested by Canadian police
Brent Patterson | Concerns about police violence, nation-to-nation relationships and the right to free, prior and informed consent increase following arrests.
Blog - Brent Patterson February 19
Image: Pavel Vanka/Flickr
Billions earmarked for fighter jets another strike against climate justice, peace and a Green New Deal
Brent Patterson | The CANSEC arms fair in Ottawa will be a key moment to mobilize against the Trudeau government's planned multi-billion dollar purchase of fighter jets.
Blog - Brent Patterson February 15
Image: TOWetsuwetenSolidarity/Twitter
Rail blockades are proving to be an effective non-violent response to state violence
Brent Patterson | The rail blockades in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders could be a learning moment for Extinction Rebellion and other social justice movements.
Blog - Brent Patterson February 14
Image: PBI Canada
Indigenous land defender Lorena Cabnal on feminism vs megaprojects
Brent Patterson | Mayan Q'eqchi'-xinka healer and feminist Lorena Cabnal on body-land territory, the struggle against patriarchy and extractivism, and the power of ancestral memory.
Blog - Brent Patterson February 10
Image: Unist'ot'en Camp/Facebook
Wet'suwet'en land defenders face risks experienced by environmental human rights defenders around the world
Brent Patterson | Wet'suwet'en land defenders are facing many of the same risks and patterns experienced by environmental human rights defenders in Latin America and around the world.
Blog - Brent Patterson January 27
Unisto't'en camp calls for legal observers. Image: Peace Brigades Canada/Twitter
RCMP blocks human rights lawyers from accessing Wet'suwet'en territory
Brent Patterson | Lawyers raise concerns about restricted access to Wet'suwet'en territory hindering the ability to train legal observers to document human rights abuses by the RCMP.
Blog - Brent Patterson January 17
Land defenders at Wet'suwet'en Access Point on Gidimt'en Territory. Image: Wet'suwet'en Access Point on Gidimt'en Territory/Facebook
The criminalization of Indigenous land defenders is a global concern
Brent Patterson | Forty per cent of the human rights defenders killed in 2019 were working on land rights, Indigenous peoples' rights and environmental rights.
Blog - Brent Patterson January 14
Image: Wet'suwet'en Access Point on Gidimt'en Territory/Facebook
Canada's long history of criminalizing Indigenous resistance
Brent Patterson | It is essential that Canada uphold its constitutional and international human rights obligations to the Wet'suwet'en Nation.
Blog - Brent Patterson December 3
Protesters at COP21 in Paris. Image: John Englart/Flickr
Trudeau's climate policy a disaster as UN climate summit kicks off
Brent Patterson | As COP25 kicks off and the House of Commons reconvenes this week, Brent Patterson breaks down the numbers behind the Trudeau government's failure on climate policy.
Blog - Brent Patterson October 27
Image: Peace Brigades International
Canadian companies involved in upcoming Colombian fracking projects
Brent Patterson | Colombian human rights defenders to talk fracking and climate change at public forums in Ottawa, Vancouver and Nanaimo this November.
Blog - Brent Patterson October 25
Chilean protests in 2019. Image: Jorge Morales Piderit/Wikimedia Commons
Canada's role in the austerity and uprising in Chile
Brent Patterson | What are the Canadian links to the social uprising in Chile that has claimed at least 18 lives over the past seven days?
Blog - Brent Patterson October 23
Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Image: Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons
How might a minority Parliament in Canada address human rights globally?
Brent Patterson | Does the outcome of the federal election create opportunities to improve Canada's human rights policies internationally?
Blog - Brent Patterson October 22
The interim House of Commons on January 16, 2019. Image: Leafsfan67/Wikimedia Commons
Election result signals the need for continued grassroots activism
Brent Patterson | What are some observations we can make about the results of this federal election and how could that help shape continued grassroots mobilizations?
Blog - Brent Patterson October 11
Image: Ficamazonia/Facebook
Protecting the Amazon rainforest from fracking
Brent Patterson | Indigenous communities in Colombia want to protect the Amazon rainforest from fracking.
Blog - Brent Patterson October 10
Image: Talia Woodin/Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion honours land defenders killed for protecting the environment
Brent Patterson | Extinction Rebellion makes an important link with the deadly struggle for climate justice in the Global South.
Blog - Brent Patterson October 8
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Petra Kelly's enduring message of ecology, disarmament and human rights
Brent Patterson | Twenty-seven years after her death, Kelly's vision holds lessons for the Extinction Rebellion movement.
Blog - Brent Patterson September 23
Global climate Strike in London in March 2019. Image: Garry Knight/Flickr
The global climate strike is just the beginning
Brent Patterson | Environment minister's pat on the head means the climate strike must continue to escalate its tactics to disrupt business as usual.
Blog - Brent Patterson September 9
Sri Lankan Parliament. Image: Nigel Swales/Flickr
George Lakey's time as a Peace Brigades International volunteer in Sri Lanka
Brent Patterson | The well-known Quaker peace activist has an extraordinary story to tell about protecting human rights lawyers from state repression.
Blog - Brent Patterson September 3
Public entrance of the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau. Image: Wladyslaw/Wikimedia Commons
Streets outside federal election debate may be a frontline in climate fight
Brent Patterson | The leaders' debate on October 7 and 10 provides an opportunity for the climate justice movement to shake things up this election.
Blog - Brent Patterson August 21
Rita Wong. Image: PBI-Canada/Facebook
Land defender Rita Wong sentenced to jail for blocking Trans Mountain work site
Brent Patterson | Before she was arrested, Rita Wong encouraged "more people to make the connections between violence against the land and violence against missing and murdered Indigenous women."
Blog - Brent Patterson August 18
Image: Peace Brigades International
Remembering Colombian land defender Hernán Bedoya
Brent Patterson | The human right to a healthy environment means better protection of environmental human rights defenders and their families.
Blog - Brent Patterson August 12
Photo: Brent Patterson
Mohawk land defender Ellen Gabriel on the continuing struggle for land and territory
Brent Patterson | Peace Brigades International visited The Pines in 1991 and takes note of the escalating tensions over land ownership in 2019.
Blog - Brent Patterson August 10
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Does campaigning by jet make sense in an era of climate breakdown?
Brent Patterson | Travelling by train wouldn't make Trudeau or Scheer climate leaders, but jetting across the country for 36 days is deeply problematic.
Blog - Brent Patterson August 1
CF-18 flyover in Toronto. Photo: synestheticstrings/Wikimedia Commons
Can the climate justice movement ground the fighter jets celebrated at air shows?
Brent Patterson | A rebellion against our extinction and the winning of a Green New Deal means challenging the spectacle of burning jet fuel for entertainment.
Blog - Brent Patterson July 28
Photo: Brent Patterson
Colombian-Canadians and allies rally in opposition to the killing of human rights defenders
Brent Patterson | On July 26, thousands took part in a "march for life and the defence of social leaders" global day of action.
Blog - Brent Patterson July 23
Photo: Brent Patterson
We need to have a talk about capitalism in our struggle for climate justice
Brent Patterson | Big environmental groups and grassroots organizations like Extinction Rebellion can't avoid an explicit class analysis if we want to be able to get to the truth about climate breakdown.
Blog - Brent Patterson July 23
Image: Saltillo Migrant Shelter
Canada and the Latin American migrant rights crisis
Brent Patterson | Canada's border policies are interconnected with the migrant rights crisis on the United States-Mexico border.

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