mother_earth

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This year’s walk started on Sunday June 15 from Kanehsatà:ke, Quebec and they continued walking for 140 km, with their minds and prayers on how to best serve the needs of Mother Earth — our mother.

The final destination was a welcoming event on Parliament Hill on Sunday June 22, 2014.

The aim of the week-long walk was to bring attention to the devastating environmental impacts the tar sands has on the planet on a domestic and international level.

According to walkers, this section of the walk is a continuation of Les Marche des Peuples pour la Terre Mère; a 700 km walk which began on May 10, 2014 in Cacouna, Quebec and finished in Kanehsatà:ke on June 14, 2014. The second part of the walk began a day later.

Cacouna, Quebec was chosen as the start point since TransCanada is planning on developing an oil pipeline port there for off-loading the fuel extracted from the Alberta tar sands.

You can view the interactive map of their route here.

A Walk for Mother Earth brought together Indigenous Canadians and their allies.

Organizer Ashley Thackaberry stated, “We are standing in solidarity with all peoples for a pipeline-free future from the west coast to the east coast including the Northern Gateway pipeline project that was ‘conditionally approved’ on June 17th, 2014 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. We are asking for a moratorium on all pipeline developments for a generation — or, better yet, for seven generations.” 

You can read a first-hand account of the preceding walk, “Peoples for Mother Earth,” by participant and activist Jon Milton on his blog here.

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...