Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Indigenous

Indigenous nations have protected the earth on their territories for thousands of years. With the government of Canada ignoring their sovereignty, nations not only see massive theft of resources that could help alleviate social problems, but their exacerbation through their further alienation from their own lands, often accompanying being overrun by development and southern workers, while having no self-determination during this process. In the south of Canada industrial farming displaced many nations with often genocidal results. In the north, a modern equivalent of that fate is only just beginning, wrought on by industrial oil and gas drilling schemes (among many industrial plans) that are condemning entire societies, languages and cultures to a precarious future, becoming minorities in their lands for the first time.

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The Canadian tar sands dilemma

The Canadian oil sands dilemma
March 1, 2009
by John Guerrerio,
Energy Examiner

Giant grinders loosen layers of dirt and sand to get to the oil below.

Alberta's oil and gas sector gets behind the Free Trade push

Crude Business in Colombia
Alberta's oil and gas sector gets behind the Free Trade push
February 25, 2009
by Dawn Paley

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA–When Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day
signed the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Peru on
November 21, it was a happy day for Canada’s oil and gas sector, but
the deal was celebrated by its signatories as a landmark for human
rights and democracy in Colombia.

“Deepening both economic and political engagement between our
countries is the best way Canadians can support the citizens of

National Geographic sparks mainstream reaction on Tar Sands

*Oilsands will never get a fair shake*

*Lamphier:* I've always had a thing for National Geographic. Without
access to its pictures, I'm sure I would have flunked Grade 5 geography.
My projects on the Great Pyramids of Egypt or the lost Incan city of
Machu Picchu would have been a crashing bore. I know that in my heart.
_*MORE...*
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Business/Oilsands+will+never+fair+shake/1...

* Canada needs the oil sands*

*NP:* National Geo-graphic magazine's current ar ticle on Al -berta's

Beaver Lake Cree Lawsuit gains New Support

Co-op backs Canadian oil fight

February 26, 2009

MANCHESTER-based Co-operative Financial Services said today it was backing legal action by Canada's Beaver Lake Cree Nation in its fight to stop tar sand developments by oil giants including Shell, BP and ExxonMobil.

CFS said it would fund the Alberta community's efforts to demonstrate the impact of tar sand developments on their traditional way of life and seek injunctions to prevent them.

It’s time to rethink harmful tar sands projects

It’s time to rethink harmful tar sands projects
By Roy Strang - Peace Arch News
February 17, 2009

There may, after all, be a small silver lining in the dark fiscal cloud hanging over us.

It’s so small that it’s hard to discern amidst the monetary gloom, but it’s there nonetheless.

Alberta gets fresh black eye with tar sands coverage

Alberta gets fresh black eye with oilsands coverage
By Kelly Cryderman, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 22, 2009

CALGARY - It seems the Alberta government can't catch a break.

To add to the long list of international publications that have focused on the environmental costs of the oilsands, National Geographic chose its March edition to splash images of the development - with at least four pictures depicting unsightly tailings ponds - across its pages alongside an article.

Rhetoric and Reality Clash on Obama's First Foreign Visit

POLITICS: Rhetoric and Reality Clash on Obama's First Foreign Visit
By Chris Arsenault

VANCOUVER, Feb 20 (IPS) - On his first foreign visit as U.S.
president, Barack Obama's rhetoric of "hope" and "change" came face to
face with the hard, divisive policy realities of climate change from
Canada's tar sands, a growing insurgency in Afghanistan and the
sputtering world economy.

Some 2,500 spectators lined the streets of Ottawa to watch the
president's motorcade make its way to Parliament Hill, a marked

The anti-tar sands industry

Such an article as the one below is a very good thing to see, in a certain sense. It means, of course, that stage one & two of social action against the tar sands have now been passed: stage one is they ignore you, and two is they ridicule you. Three, of course-- so goes the old saying, anyhow-- is that we are violently opposed.

Baker Lake hunters, elders oppose uranium mine

Baker Lake hunters, elders oppose uranium mine
"Like part of their spirit."
February 20, 2009
JOHN BIRD

Joan Scottie was on the front lines 20 years ago when the community of Baker Lake said an historic "no" to uranium mining - and she's still fighting the same battle today.

But this time, key Inuit organizations have switched sides.

"I'm frustrated with our aboriginal organizations," Scottie said. "They are the ones who are supposed to represent us. Instead, they are getting revenue in millions of dollars from the mining companies for our hunting grounds."

Indigenous Environmental Network press release on Obama's visit to Canada

*Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 –* United States President Barack Obama
is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his first
foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on trade
between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate and energy
security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing an agenda for
a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil sands, a vast
potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the environment and the