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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RCMP tap local activists (2010 Games)

RCMP tap local activists
posted by Jason Youmans
02/11/2009 8:00 AM

It appears the RCMP dragnet to quash 2010 Olympic opposition before it
begins has washed up on the shores of Vancouver Island.

One local business owner says he was approached two weeks ago at the
end of his work day by a man who identified himself as RCMP agent Mike
Smook and who then asked to step inside for a word.

Smook told Dark Horse Books owner Robert Garfat that he was working on
behalf of the RCMP General Investigation Services, although it has

Poverty Olympics spotlight Downtown Eastside

VANCOUVER 2010: 'IT'S NOT A GAME'
Poverty Olympics spotlight Downtown Eastside
February 9, 2009

VANCOUVER -- They have their own Olympic mascots - Itchy the Bedbug, Creepy the Cockroach and Chewy the Rat - their own torch, made from a toilet plunger, and a catchy marketing phrase: "End poverty. It's not a game."

But what the Poverty Olympics doesn't have is money - and that was the main point being underscored yesterday by a celebration/protest march through the Downtown Eastside.

"Alberta serious about tar sands clean up"

Alberta serious about oil sands clean up: minister
Strict New Rules

By Darcy Henton and Dan Healing, Canwest News
February 4, 2009

Alberta's energy minister says strict new rules governing oil sands tailings ponds will show the world that Alberta is serious about cleaning up the province's oil sands developments.

"I think the market community internationally [is] going to see that the province of Alberta and this government are very serious about how we move forward with ... development that's environmentally friendly," said Mel Knight.

Fort Chip cancer rates higher than expected: report

Fort Chip cancer rates higher than expected: report
February 6, 2009
CBC News

The number of cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., is higher than expected, says a report from Alberta Health Services released Friday.

Fifty-one cancers in 47 people were found in Fort Chipewyan between 1995 and 2006, a dozen more than the 39 cancers that were expected, and the incidences of some cancers warrant more followup, the report said.

Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today (without Fort Chip's approval)

Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today
edmontonjournal.com
February 6, 2009

EDMONTON - A study of the incidence of cancer in the northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan is to be released Friday at noon.

Dr. Tony Fields of Alberta Health Services is to discuss the findings at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.

Fort Chipewyan is downstream from oilsands development, which some in the area have blamed for higher than normal rates of rare cancer. The study was meant to determine whether that was the case.

Suncor ordered to test Athabasca River

Suncor ordered to test Athabasca
Oilsands giant discharged too much grease and oil into river Tuesday
By CAROL CHRISTIAN
McMurray Today staff

Suncor Energy is testing the quality of the Athabasca River after it discharged more grease and oil than allowed into the river Tuesday.

Pipeline would bring tar sands tankers into B.C. inlets

Pipeline would bring tankers into B.C. inlets
By Andrew Findlay
Georgia Straight
February 5, 2009

Where the waters of Caamano Sound squeeze into Whale Channel, four humpback whales circle in slow, languorous patterns. The whales dive, and the water above returns to calm save for a few wind ripples. Suddenly a single whale reemerges in a burst of bubbling water, mouth agape, its great baleen plates exposed and scooping up a massive mouthful of krill and small fish.

"And Then Let's Go For That Justice" Part II

"And Then Let's Go For That Justice" Part II
Indigenous women demand respect in Ottawa

by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

The February 14 memorial march in Vancouver's Downtown East Side is held annually to remember and honour missing women and support their families and friends. Photo: Dawn Paley

In honour of missing and murdered indigenous women, the Walk4Justice began in Vancouver on June 21, Aboriginal Day, and ended with a rally of about 250 on Parliament Hill on September 15.

"And Then Let's Go for that Justice" Part I

"And Then Let's Go for that Justice" Part I
The Walk4Justice

by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Some of the many Indigenous women and men who walked across Canada to draw attention to systemic abuses against First Nations women. Photo: Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

This article is part one of two on the Walk4Justice.

Peace-Athabasca Delta gets special international designation

Alta. delta gets special international designation
by Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service
February 3, 2009

The Peace-Athabasca Delta in northern Alberta was declared one of the Western Hemisphere's most extraordinary and endangered places Tuesday by a leading environmental group that named the delta a "BioGem" it will campaign to save.