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.
Bruce Power launches nuclear power feasibility study
Cassandra Kyle, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
SASKATOON -- A feasibility study into the potential for a nuclear energy plant in Saskatchewan will be complete by the end of the year, according to the president and CEO of Bruce Power LP, a nuclear power producer in Ontario.
Racism in the Tar Sands: exploiting foreign workers and poisoning indigenous people
June 12, 2008
By Macdonald Stainsby
The giant corporations that are determined to exploit the Alberta tar sands face a major problem — a serious shortage of local labour to do the actual work. So the Canadian and Albertan governments have a plan, ideal in their eyes, to solve the crunch.
First Nations town plans road blockade
Florence Loyie, The Edmonton Journal
June 13, 2008
EDMONTON - A First Nations community straddling a section of the border between northern Alberta and British Columbia is planning a blockade later this month to draw attention to health and safety concerns caused by oil and gas exploration on its traditional lands.
Clayton Anderson, a consultant working for Kelly Lake Cree Nation, said the blockade will be held in conjunction with an emergency disaster preparedness drill the community plans for next week.
Small band has big bite
Slave River Journal, June 11/2008
A small First Nation group in the southern part of the Municipality of Wood Buffalo is suing the Alberta provincial government for failing to ensure its treaty rights. Industrial encroachment near the Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation is destroying their way of life, according to Chief Vern Janvier.
“Today we’re at the point where we see no future where we are,” Janvier told reporters in a press conference Wednesday, June 4.
Finding their voice [Economist]
Jun 12th 2008 | OTTAWA
Canada delivers an official apology to its increasingly assertive indigenous peoples
Council backs spill response planning
June 11, 2008
A Geographic Response Plan (GRP) is being piloted for Kitimat through the BC Environment ministry.
The project is being led by Mike Drumm, from the ministry office in Smithers.
He told city council a GRP contains maps and descriptions of sensitive natural and cultural resources as well as outline strategies to minimize damage from an oil spill.
“GRPs are designed to reduce those decision making times,” explained Drumm.
Ottawa awards BP $1.2B in exploration permits in Beaufort Sea
Last Updated: Monday, June 9, 2008
CBC News
Energy giant BP came out the big winner in the federal government's latest auction for oil and gas exploration leases in the Beaufort Sea, offering to spend nearly $1.2 billion to explore on the Arctic seabed.
BP Exploration Company Ltd. won three of five exploration leases announced late Friday by the federal Indian and Northern Affairs Department.
On the Matter of Tar Sands & Indigenous Lands
Check out the video podcast:
http://citizen.nfb.ca/blogs/citizenshift/on-the-matter-of-tar-sands-indi...
First Nation wants court to block oilsands deal
Posted By THE CANADIAN PRESS
A tiny aboriginal community wants to force Alberta to consult with First Nations in a meaningful way before approving oilsands projects that native leaders say threaten their traditional way of life.
The Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation is asking Court of Queen's Bench to block the approval of Phase 3 of MEG Energy Corp.'s Christina Lake project near Fort McMurray until the province agrees to improve its regulatory process and hold talks with band leaders.
Regulatory delay hits pipeline
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 26, 2008
YELLOWKNIFE - The Mackenzie Gas Project is facing another regulatory delay.
A report by the Joint Review Panel (JRP) expected in mid-2008 has now been once again delayed to sometime next year.
"We cannot see this as a positive development for the project," said Pius Rolheiser, a spokesperson for Imperial Oil in Calgary.
Rolheiser said it will delay the ultimate decision on whether the pipeline will proceed.
