Grassy Narrows First Nation battles big forestry companies

[www.rabble.ca]

Victory for Grassy Narrows!
June 2008
http://www.turtleisland.org/news/grassywin08.rtf
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BACKGROUND
http://www.turtleisland.org/news/news-grassy.htm
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Police made more arrests at Grassy Narrows logging blockade
July 27, 2006
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =7265#7265

Protest shuts down Trans Canada highway in NW Ontario
July 13, 2006. . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =7210#7210

Earth Justice Gathering
At the Grassy Narrows Blockade
July 10-16, 2006
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =7071#7071

March 2006

Grassy Narrows First Nation issues warning to Weyerhaeuser - Withdraw or Face Fierce Campaign . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =6712#6712

July 2004

Delivering a clear message to Grassy Narrows First Nation neighbours about clearcutting . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =3570#3570

June 2004

Educating local residents about clearcuts and treaty violations
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =3321#3321

April 2004

Trees as living community members . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2616#2616

March 2004

Saving Grassy Narrows . . .
http://sil.mcmaster.ca/news/032504saving.html

We've been self-managing for thousands of years . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2618#2618

Logging company at centre of Anishinabe protest, appears in court to face forestry licence offences . . .
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2498#2498


February 2004

Grassy Narrow students march with message, Stop Clearcutting
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2331#2331


Community faces difficult decisions
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2332#2332


Stop the Clear-Cutting of Traplines at Anishinabe Lake
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =2249#2249

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December 2003

Declaring Themselves Human at Grassy Narrows
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =1934#1934


Tackling their housing crisis - Tree Harvesting and a Community Log Mill
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =1924#1924


November 2003

Anishnaabe blockaders and logging company executives held a crucial relationship-building meeting
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... =1798#1798


Support Grassy Narrows First Nation - Letter writing campaign
http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... php?p=1733

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October, 2003

Listen to a series of interviews about the ongoing blockade at Grassy Narrows an indigenous community in North-Western Ontario resisting clear-cutting of their traditional land use area.

Featuring: Community Members of Grassy Narrows, Roberta Keesick, Dave Brophy, Antoine Libert, Carolyn Perez
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7991

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Longest lasting peaceful blockade

Grassy Narrows First Nation's fight gains more supporters
http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=26745

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CPT Asubpeeschoseewagong

Update Sept 15- Oct 10, 2003

Doug Pritchard
Canada Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams
canada@cpt.org

Blockade brainstorming meeting

The CPT team attended a meeting where students, who initiated the blockade, and school staff discussed plans for the blockade over the next several months, which could include trips to Toronto (Provincial Parliament), Montreal (Abitibi Headquarters), or New York (United Nations Headquarters) to alert others to the crisis the Native people are facing. CPT was invited to participate in the students' plans.


Police respond to gun theft

On September 19, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Treaty #3 police flooded the Grassy Narrows reserve in response to an alleged theft of guns and ammunition by several youth in the community. In August, the OPP shot and killed a Grassy Narrows youth. This memory of this incident prompted the community to cancel a feast at the school; students were only allowed to leave when their parents came to get them. The team spent much of the day on the reserve and Jeff Thiessen and Nicholas Klassen spent the night there as well in case an incident developed that needed immediate attention. CPTers saw officers in green fatigues and face paint assembling at the OPP station, but the police had cleared out by the next morning.


Bear attack

A bear attacked the team's food canisters one morning! The team moved all the food from under a tree to inside an unused shack.


Conservation officers' actions

At the blockade, Conservation Officers (CO), agents of Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources, asked CPTers and a Grassy Narrows community member if hunters were being let through. The community member responded "yes"and that only logging trucks were stopped. Later the team learned that COs had stopped two other community members at different times and asked to search their vehicles. They each responded "no"and went on their way. CO's role is to patrol non-Native hunters and fishers, while native people have a right to hunt and fish according to their own patterns.


Worship in a clear-cut

Responding to a community member's request, the team found four skidders (huge all-terrain tractors) at a clear-cut ploughing shallow trenches for tree planting next spring. The team engaged the drivers briefly, during which one said that the blockade is "ridiculous" and "it is a know fact that the Natives wouldn't have anything if it weren't for the working guy." The conversation was calm and the drivers said they would be leaving the next day. The team had a short time of worship, which included readings from the litany of resistance and from the Genesis story of the covenant, or treaty, between God and humans after the Flood.

The team returned to next day and found the skidders gone and the whole clear-cut ploughed. The team again held worship there to re-consecrate the land.


Team members during this time were Art Arbour (Toronto, ON), Nicholas Klassen (Fort Langley, BC), Doug Pritchard (Toronto, ON), Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg, MB), Jeff Thiessen (Steinbach, MB), Carol Spring (Palo Alto, CA), and Charles Spring (Palo Alto, CA).


Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S. churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org, website www.cpt.org

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BACKGROUND ON GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION BLOCKADE

http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... .php?t=445

[canada@cpt.org]

CPTnet Action Alert
Asubpeechoseewagong (Grassy Narrows)

The CPT project at Grassy Narrows invites you to send a letter to Gary Pruitt, President and CEO of the McClatchy Company, encouraging his company to meet with representatives from the Grassy Narrows First Nation (GNFN). The McClatchy Co. owns several newspapers in the United States and buys newsprint from the Abitibi-Consolidated, Inc. pulp mill in Kenora, Ontario. Abitibi supplies the mill with wood clear-cut on Grassy Narrows Traditional Land Use Area (TLUA). It is vital that the McClatchy Co. recognize the relationship it has with the source of the newsprint the people of Grassy Narrows.


A sample letter is provided. Send your letters to:


Mr. Gary B. Pruitt,
President and Chief Executive Officer
The McClatchy Company
2100 Q Street,
Sacramento, CA. USA
95815


Grassy Narrows is a part of the Anishnaabe Nation which signed Treaty #3 with the Canadian government in 1873. The Treaty guarantees that the forests and lands will be shared between the two nations, however, clear-cutting has disrupted Grassy Narrows food source and economy.

For years, Grassy Narrows has tried to communicate with Canada, nation to nation, in order to stop the clear-cutting of their home. Canada has ignored their grave concerns. In September 2003 the GNFN Chief and Council met with John Weaver, President of Abitibi. Weaver would not agree to stop the clear-cutting nor to pressure government to respect treaty agreements and/or change forest cutting regulations that require clear-cutting.


The McClatchy Co. is based in Sacramento (see their website at sacbee.com), and owns newspapers across the U.S., the largest being the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Those of us reading the news in McClatchy papers are connected to the destructive forestry practices on Grassy Narrows land. Writing a letter urging the company to meet with Grassy Narrows can encourage the powers that be to work towards right relations in their business deals.

The Sacramento Bee (a McClatchy paper) reported on the letter written by Grassy Narrows Deputy Chief Steve Fobister requesting a meeting with the McClatchy Co. Ben Taylor, senior vice president of communications at the Star Tribune told the Sacramento Bee

"We are just a consumer," he said. "Think of it this way: What if
somebody came to you and said: 'Do you know where your gasoline
comes from and what kind of issues are involved in producing it?' "

Exactly, Mr. Taylor! We know where our gas comes from, and we actively try to stop the war our government fights to acquire gasoline. We also know where our newsprint comes from, and the community put at risk to produce it.


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Mr. Pruitt,

I have been following the tragic events suffered at Grassy Narrows First Nation through the monitoring work of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). At the invitation of Grassy Narrows community members, CPT maintains a violence reduction presence in North-western Ontario. The team regularly meets with government and Abitibi-Consolidated and provides an observer presence in order to inform persons such as myself as to the developments at Grassy Narrows.

Grassy Narrows First Nation opposes the clear-cutting on their traditional land use area and wishes to change this method of cutting through a nation-to-nation relationship based on Treaty #3 signed between Canada and the Anishnabe Nation in 1873.

Your company has the opportunity to be a part of a solution. I urge you to meet with representatives of Grassy Narrows First Nation to hear their difficult situation and explore how the McClatchy Company can be a part of resolving it.

As a Christian and a consumer of newspaper I want to know that when I buy a paper it has been produced with as little damage as possible to Gods Creation. Christian values call on all of us to ensure that our actions do not cause harm to our neighbours. My faith calls on me to encourage your company to actively take part in hearing from Grassy Narrows First Nation. I thank you for considering such a meeting.

Sincerely,
(Your name)
(Your city and state/province, especially if you live in California or Minnesota)


Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S. churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213,
email canada@cpt.org
website www.cpt.org

-----------------------------------------------
Doug Pritchard
Canada Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Tel (416) 423-5525
Fax (416) 423-9213

Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an everflowing stream.
Amos 5:24

[CPTNet]

Anishnaabe blockaders and logging company executives meeting

ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows, ON): Abitibi Talks
November 11, 2003

Setting: Town of Kenora, 80 km south of Grassy Narrows, a dim, green room in the back of the Kenricia Hotel; a long table set with cloth napkins,
silverware, water glasses and candles; a server delivers frybread to eight
men arranged at the table; about a dozen people stand and sit around them in a semicircle, listening. This is a long awaited meeting between
Anishnaabe blockaders and logging company executives.

Steve, Deputy Chief of Grassy Narrows: You know, it is really important
you understand why you call this forest the Whiskey Jack Forest. That's
our Creator's name: Wees kay jok. So we have a right to protect it.

Dale, Abitibi Regional Woodlands Manager: Whenever we carry out logging operations the first bird to appear is always the Whiskey Jack.

Robert, Grassy Narrows Band Councilor: But another explanation was, let them [the Anishnaabe] drink whiskey and we'll hijack their forest!
[laughter from community members, nervous smiles from the Abitibi men.]

Don Hopkins, Abitibi General Manager, brings out a onepage "Proposal for
Partnership" on Abitibi letterhead: in a 10 km radius around the community trees will not be cut; in a further 10 km swath, logging will be subject to agreement between the community, Abitibi and the Ontario government.

Roberta, a Grassy Narrows trapper and grandmother [calmly]:The problem that's here now, was created by your company, Abitibi. It's up to you guys to solve the problem. We don't have to rack our brains to find solutions.

Judy DaSilva, blockade coorganizer [cradling her six week old son]: There's also an invitation from our youth. About three years ago Steve and I went to your office in Montreal to deliver a letter. We saw a part of how you live, saw the big fancy building. The youth invited the CEO to come to Grassy, see the forest and come see how we live. Just so you understand why we're taking this action.

JB, a spokesman for the blockaders: The government of Grassy Narrows is telling you "no more clearcutting." How do you respond to that?

Don: Well, you guys have said you're not against logging, just clearcutting. We just have to find a way to have our needs met for the area mills in Kenora and your needs met . . . and it has to make sense.

JB: Ontario's policy requires cutting to be carried out in a way that is acceptable to all affected parties. The government's inadequate consultation process led Grassy to blockade logging operations. So, offering a 10 km zone in which cutting is mutually agreeable is not a
bargaining chip, but a right that already exists!

The men from Abitibi listen intently, no doubt looking for the key to unlock this dispute. They take care not to interrupt the speakers from the
community.

Don: We never intended to hurt your community. We've been logging here for more than eighty years, we want a partnership with you.

JB: I have one more thing to say: It is too bad that it takes a blockade
to get a meeting with you.

On December 3 the blockaders will celebrate one year of slowing the clearcutting of their home. If Ontario, Abitibi, and the blockaders can find common ground, the immediate clearcutting issue may be resolved and the blockade dismantled.

Unfortunately, until Canada comes to the table, the nation to nation relationship between Canada and the Anishnaabe Nation, the meaning of the Treaty, and the conditions that led to clearcutting in the first place
cannot be addressed.

Chief Simon Fobister has the last word: I can't approve this proposal, nor
can I refuse it. I need to take it back to the community.


Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
4164235525, fax 4164239213, email canada@cpt.org, website www.cpt.org



CPTNet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG - Treaty Cards for Non-Natives
Nov. 7, 2003

The Christian Peacemaker Team based at Grassy Narrows ON, staged an
awareness raising action in downtown Kenora ON at noon on Nov. 7, 2003. Five visiting delegates from the US and Canada joined the team in
distributing 400 "Treaty Cards" to Kenorans passing by Market Square.

The walletsized card had a place for the bearer's photo and listed the
rights flowing to nonnative Canadians from international Treaty #3,
including safe passage through the homeland of the Anishinabe, and living
in peace under the sacred agreement (the Treaty). These rights persist says the Treaty "as long as the water flows and the sun shines." The CPTers also hung a large banner at Kenora's busiest intersection proclaiming, "Kenora, Celebrate Your Treaty!"

"About 10% of passersby were openly supportive of the action, and an equal number were hostile. The rest were puzzled by the notion that they too held treaty rights," said Barry McGrory, a delegate from Toronto ON. "It seldom occurs to us that Treaty #3 is a mutual covenant designed to benefit both sides." Phyllis Bergquist from Wisconsin noted that some people passed by a few times before accepting a card. "They needed to check us out first, I guess."

Following this action, CPTer Matt Schaaf and delegate Roger Wolcott put
forward CPTs viewpoint to an attentive mayor and council at an open meeting of the Kenora City Council. Other delegates visited the office of Robert Nault, the local Member of Parliament and federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the office of AbitibiConsolidated, the corporation which is clear-cutting Anishaabe lands under licence from Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources. Some delegates had a long exchange with reporters from local media.

It was so unseasonably frigid that even Kenorans complained about the cold, but delegates were warmed by the reception they had received.

The Anishaabe people of Grassy Narrows are resisting Abitibi's logging of
the community's Traditional Land Use Area. They contend that this violates Treaty #3 by which Canada and the Anishnabeg agreed to share 55,000 square miles of northwestern Ontario. Canada contends that the Anishnabeg surrendered this land. After years of fruitless appeals, letters and court cases, the people of Grassy Narrows erected a blockade, on Dec. 2, 2002, on the main logging road into this area and have maintained it ever since.

Kenora, 80 kms southwest of Grassy Narrows, is home to many forestry
workers and mills, and was named Forest Capital of Canada for the year 2000.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
4164235525, fax 4164239213, email canada@cpt.org, website www.cpt.org

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE GRASSY NARROWS RIGHTS FIGHT

http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... .php?t=445

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CPTNet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG - The Wound that Binds
Nov. 6, 2003

We are a small group drawn together across large distances to listen, learn and worship together in the First Nations community of Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows), amidst the stunning beauty of Ontario's Whiskey Jack Forest. We have begun our delegation with the shared hope of understanding what we can of the Anishinaabe people, their struggle, and what one nonnative resident of the neighbouring town of Kenora called the "intercultural wound" that binds native and nonnative peoples together. The bitter cold of winter's beginning has us huddling close together as we enter this search. We draw comfort from one another, as we do from the gentle, gracious new friends we're making here at Grassy.

One such friend, a warm, softspoken community leader, told us of his deep desire that the young people of Grassy Narrows would learn the traditional hunting, fishing, and trapping practices of his people-- practices that have been gravely set back by the environmental degradation of the land and water here, and by the simultaneous proliferation of television and other modern amenities. He led us to a place he knew well as a child, the wooded and grassy land where his grandparents lived before the community was relocated to its present site. Overlooking the river
system, waterways which the Anishinaabe have used for generations, he spoke to us with longing. He told us that many of his people desire to return here and showed us the beginnings of a new road leading to this old reserve.

We were touched by this friend's dedication to his culture and his people,
and by his heartfelt desire to move closer to the way it was only a few
years ago. But thoughts of the mercury poisoning that beautiful water, and of the continuing advances of the logging companies, are quick to return to our minds. We're humbled by the challenges that continue to loom here, and hope to gain insight during these coming days about our role in this delicate balance.

The CPTGrassy Narrows delegation are Phyllis Bergquist (Plymouth WI), Tom Fox (Springfield VA), Barry McGrory (Toronto ON), Chris MooreBackman (Redwood City CA), Roger Wolcott (Sandy Spring MD)

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email cpt@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org


BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE GRASSY NARROWS RIGHTS FIGHT

http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/ ... .php?t=445

[http://www.cpt.org]

ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows ON) - On Spending Thanksgiving in Grassy Narrows
by Tricia Brown
November 26, 2003
[Tricia Brown in a CPT reservist from Newberg, Oregon, United States.]

The light of two candles played on the walls of the Roundhouse as people
wandered in and huddled around the woodstove for heat. The green scent of sawdust rose from the ground, lacing the frigid air with the promise of spring life. Over the course of an hour, the room filled with about thirty bodies Anishnaabe residents of Grassy Narrows, and their CPT supporters. We snacked on dense, soft bannock (fry bread) and tea as the "Blockade Meeting" began.

All those at the meeting shared the floor, expressing their convictions
about protecting their traditional lands and treaty rights. A spirit of
strength and resistance was palpable as residents of Grassy Narrows spoke of blocking further actions by corporations or the Ministry of Natural
Resources to usurp their land. About half the conversation was in Ojibwa,
and though the unfamiliar words swirled around me mysteriously, the
commitment in people's voices evoked excitement. I felt privileged to be
invited to the momentous meeting, warmed by the hospitality of our
Anishnaabe friends, and inspired by the "undoing" that was taking place
before me the slow undoing of decades of white hegemony and
oppression. One man infused the gathering with intensity and determination reminding them: "It is your land, your treaty, your rights." "You are a sovereign nation," he pointed out, "not a business interest."

This year I am spending U.S. Thanksgiving in Grassy Narrows. I cannot
think of any place I would rather be. I remember the Indian-and-Pilgrim
Thanksgiving myth I heard repeated every year as a schoolkid in
America. The myth painted a picture of harmony and intercultural exchange, and of mutual sharing between neighbors. We were taught that Thanksgiving was a time to thank God for the gifts of our rich land and, as implied by the myth, for the hospitable welcome given us white people upon arrival to our "new" country many years ago. Little did I know, as a child, the rest of the story of massacres, forced relocations followed by famine and disease, twofaced treaties, cultural genocide, resource theft, residential schools. Now that I know these things, the myth is a heap of straw.

But this year my Thanksgiving will be spent in Grassy Narrows. I will
celebrate the holiday by attending a squaredance on the reserve, by sharing a meal with Anishnaabe friends, and by giving thanks. I will give thanks for the swell of nonviolent resistance and hope in this place, for the patient undoing of systemic violence, and for glimpses of the justice and truthtelling of God's coming reign which are evident here. I will give
thanks for the love shown to me, a white North American, by First Nations
friends in Grassy Narrows despite all.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.

Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email cpt@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org
-----------------------------------------------
Doug Pritchard
Canada Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada -
Equipes Chretiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
Tel (416) 423-5525
Fax (416) 423-9213

So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18

[CPTnet]

CPTnet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows ON) - Calling You to Prayer Regarding Something a Little Odd
by Lisa Martens
November 22, 2003

I’ve only been on this CPT project a few weeks, but I’m finding something a little odd. It's something a little odd because this project is :

in a hemisphere where about 90% of indigenous people died after Colombus arrived;

in a country where treaties with indigenous nations are continually broken while companies, including pulp and paper company Abitibi Consolidated, reap billions of dollars from resources on treaty lands;

in a town called Kenora that is highly dependent on the logging industry, and in an area where Grassy Narrows community has been blockading logging trucks, asserting its national sovereign and inherent rights;

in a town, Kenora, where the mayor recently told Grassy Narrows, publicly, “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

While the Second Nations* continue to impose racism and colonialism on the Grassy Narrows First Nation and the wider indigenous nation, the odd thing I’m finding is that many Second Nations' Kenorans have a great deal of compassionate interest about what’s going on in the Grassy Narrows community. CPT members here before me have developed good relationships with them.

At a gathering planned by CPT in a United Church a few weeks ago, thirty people showed up, including a senior citizen who used to work on a hydroelectric project that badly affected Grassy Narrows Traditional LandUse Area. Participants in the church gathering expressed concern for their relationship with Grassy Narrows and thanked CPT members for their work. When we CPT team members visit Kenora, we are quickly invited to people’s homes for meals and to stay the night. Granted, there are Kenorans who have been developing good relationships with Grassy Narrows for longer than CPT has been an organization, but now Kenorans who have never visited the community before are expressing interest.

When CPT member Jessica Phillips approached four Kenora churches to coorganize Advent Prayer Vigils with them, church leaders quickly agreed.

Please join the CPT team and Kenora church members in prayer. The opening prayer that will be said at each of the vigils is below. Feel free to adapt it as you see fit. Vigils will be held at :

St. Louis Roman Catholic Church on December 5, 7:00 pm
Knox United Church December 10, 7:00 pm
First Baptist Church, December 14, 7:00 pm and at
St. Albans Cathedral (Anglican) December 21, 7:00 pm


Opening Prayer

Kind and Holy God,
Thank you for all the bodies, emotions, minds and imaginations in this room
Thank you for creating earth, rocks,
snow, air,
fire, rain,
the sun, the moon, the planets,
us, other people, cultures and colours,
plants, trees
and water
Thank you for all your good, holy creation.

Thank you for Jesus.
In Jesus name, allow us to create with you
a good kingdom
Where the last are put first,
Where the least and poorest are satisfied and honoured,
Where the meek inherit the earth,
And everyone is free.

Give us what we need.
Forgive us when we are greedy
and help us not to be.

Deliver us from evil
and into Jesus’ powerful upside down kingdom forever
Amen.

*those of us whose ancestors have arrived on these lands since Colombus
-----------------------------------------------
Doug Pritchard
Canada Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada -
Equipes Chrétiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
Tel (416) 423-5525
Fax (416) 423-9213

So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18

[www.cpt.org]

Tackling their Housing Crisis - Tree Harvesting and a Community Log Mill at Grassy Narrows

CPTnet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows ON): Meeting Our Own Needs
by Tricia Brown
Dec. 17, 2003

"When you see a beaver building a lodge, do you question why he does
it?" People ask Robert Williamson to explain why the people of Grassy
Narrows are harvesting and milling logs for building log homes, and this is
his response. The reason is so simple it should not need stating: they are
finding ways to meet their needs - an act as natural and creative as that
of beavers building dams, or birds weaving nests.

The Grassy Narrows community has been experiencing a housing shortage for years, since government funding for housing falls far short of
demand. Therefore, the community began to ask: how can we provide housing for ourselves? And an answer emerged: we can build our own houses from the resources available on our traditional land use area.

It was about two years ago that the Grassy Narrows First Nation conceived the idea of purchasing a log mill to be used for constructing log cabins for families in the community. And on November 24, 2003, a Roundtech mill, delivered to Grassy Narrows from Finland, saw its first day of operation. The community is not out to prove something by purchasing and using the mill, Robert explains. They are merely meeting their needs. "The key," he says, "is actually believing it is our right, and
feeling comfortable using what is ours to use."

The log mill at Grassy Narrows sits atop a hill overlooking a lake. It is
a long, narrow, stateoftheart machine that transforms the barky surfaces of logs into surfaces smooth as tile and honeyblond. It also notches the logs to fit together into heavy, weathertight walls. The log homes built by the community will not only be practical and wellbuilt, but stunningly
beautiful. Eight Grassy Narrows residents are employed in the milling
process, including those who harvest trees for the mill from the forest
surrounding the reserve.

The differences between the treeharvesting done by the Asubpeeschoseewagong loggers and that done by the logging companies which the community has been blockading over the past year are stark. The community takes only what it needs; logging contractors for Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. clear-cut wide areas. "After we've cut," says Robert, "you cannot tell where we've been. We are careful about the damage we do, so that nature has the ability to heal itself without our assistance. We do not damage the forest in such a way that we have to go back and rebuild it. It can rebuild itself naturally."

The Housing Committee of the Grassy Narrows First Nation will choose which families on the reserve are eligible for log houses. But their plan is for eligible families to scout their own logs for cutting and milling, and then build their own houses from the milled logs. The process envisioned by the community will allow families much more participation in the building of their houses, will provide housing to Grassy Narrows families more efficiently than Canadian government methods, will make wise use of resources close to the community, will produce less waste and byproducts, and will allow the community greater autonomy in meeting its own needs. "We can see the benefits of actually going out and getting what we need," Robert says, his enthusiasm showing through his characteristic subtlety. "We can see it right away."

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email cpt@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[www.cpt.org]

CPTnet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows ON) - Declared Human
by Lisa Martens
December 22, 2003

At this CPT project, I get to listen to a nation be sovereign.

I visit a friend. "We will declare ourselves human in few days," he says,
referring to one of his plans for an upcoming celebration. He shows me the cover of a book he's been reading. "It makes me so angry. When they came, they declared us savages without any laws or government. We'll declare ourselves human in a few days. I don't know if anyone's ever done that before."

Here, at this CPT project, my teammates and I reduce the risk of violence
at a logging blockade built by Anishnaabe community members to stop
clearcutting on Anishnaabe traditional land. Here, we help educate the
nearby immigrant community (those who arrived on the landmass after
Colombus), and we get to listen to the Anishnaabe nation be sovereign.

"I used to drink," a woman explains to me, "But now I do whatever I can to be here for my kids. My dad stopped drinking and a lot of other older
people did too." She pauses to draw something on a pad of paper at the
request of her daughter. "We are like people that have been asleep for a
long time, and we are slowly waking up. I can see it happening. What the youth need to know is their rights and how to stand up for what is good."

For me, working here is partly about beginning to do a little diplomacy
with the Anishnaabe on behalf of my possible kids.

"He said that white people are like our little brothers," one friend
relates another's words to me. "He said they are our little brothers and
we need to take care of them because they came to this land much later than us and they don't know as much. We need to help them. That's how I think about it - little brothers and sisters."

Working here is about doing a little diplomacy, because my neighbours,
here, belong to a strong, wounded nation that is waking up.

I watch another woman. She raises five children gently. She listens to
her older sister and travels around Canada talking about her nation. She
practices her beliefs. She apologizes for the mess in her house. She
helps organize community meetings, attends them, and brings the banana bread.

Working here is about doing a little diplomacy with the last who are gonna
be first in the upside down kingdom, with the meek who already inherited
this part of the earth a very long time ago.

"We will have our land back. I have no doubt," another man says quietly.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Canadian and U.S.
churches committed to active peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email cpt@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org
-----------------------------------------------
Doug Pritchard
Canada Coordinator
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada -
Equipes Chrétiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
Tel (416) 423-5525
Fax (416) 423-9213

So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18

[cptgn@kmts.ca]

ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows, ON) URGENT ACTION: Stop the Clear-Cutting of Traplines at Anishinabe Lake
February 5, 2004
Logging contractors working for Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. have recently begun clear-cutting timber near Anishnabe Lake, 60 km north of Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows ON). This week, Grassy Narrows trapper Alex Fobister reported to his community that the loggers had destroyed most of the access trail he had cut on his trapline, and the pine marten traps he had set along the trail were all gone. In response, on Feb. 4, 2004, the community erected a blockade on the Deer Lake Road leading to Anishnabe Lake and are stopping all logging trucks from entering the area.

The community asks that CPT supporters contact the government leaders listed below to call for an end to clear-cut logging on Grassy Narrows' traditional territories.

Background
Abitibi-Consolidate Inc. holds a Sustainable Forest Licence from the Province of Ontario for a large area of forest north of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. This area includes the 6,500 sq km traditional land use area of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishnabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation). Grassy Narrows is a party to Treaty #3 with Canada which promised that they would retain access to their traditional hunting and fishing grounds. However clear-cut logging, such as that done by Abitibi, and encouraged by Ontario, is destroying the animal habitat needed by Grassy Narrows people to sustain their community, and therefore violates the treaty. After years of frustration in meetings with government officials and court cases, Grassy Narrows took direct action in December 2002 by blockading Jones Road, the main logging road leading into their traditional territory. That blockade remains in place. They have also, on occasion, blockaded other logging roads on their territory.

Alex Fobister is a 60-year-old full-time trapper from Grassy who has always sustained himself from the forest. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father had always trapped in the same area that he does near Anishnabe Lake. He holds a licence for this trapline from the same Ontario government department that licences Abitibi's logging on that land. Earlier this year, he hand cut a new trail in part of the remaining mature forest on his trapline, and placed boxes for trapping the fur-bearing pine marten. When he returned to inspect his trapline in late January 2004, he found that a logging contractor working for Abitibi had clear-cut most of the mature forest on his trail and that all his marten boxes were missing. He, and the community, are extremely upset, as he had understood that there would be no logging of the forest that remained on his trapline.

In November 2003, Abitibi finally entered a dialogue with the community about the blockades and the concerns behind it. The company tabled a one-page "Proposal for Partnership," and the community has been preparing its response. Abitibi's destruction of yet another trapline is seen by the community as negotiating in bad faith and a poor basis for establishing a partnership.

Urgent Action
Both the federal and Ontario provincial governments are new. Both have promised a new way of doing things. The federal government is responsible for upholding Treaty #3 and its guarantee that Grassy Narrows people will be able to hunt and fish on their territories. The Ontario government is responsible for forestry practices and licences, and is also obliged to respect treaty rights, all of which are protected in sec. 35 of Canada's constitution, which is the highest law in Canada.

Please contact the new Canadian government leaders listed below, making the following points. Telephone calls, personal written letters, and faxes are generally more effective than e-mail.

congratulate these leaders on their new positions and their promises of a new way of doing things;
let them know that the treaty rights of Grassy Narrows people are being violated by the logging activities of Abitibi-Consolidated operating under licence from Ontario;
inform them that yet another trapline has just been destroyed by Abitibi's contractors;
ask that they intervene to stop the treaty violations and destruction of Grassy Narrows' means of livelihood caused by this clear-cut logging.
Addresses
Rt. Hon. Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
tel 613-992-4284
fax 613-992-4291
email pm@pm.gc.ca

Hon. Andy Mitchell
Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
tel 613-996-3434
fax 613-991-2147
email Mitchell.A@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
R. 281, Main Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A4
tel 416-325-1941
fax 416-325-7578
email dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org


Please send a copy of any written messages to Grassy Narrows at fobister@voyageur.ca and to CPT Asubpeeschoseewagong at cptgn@kmts.ca. For Canadian residents, also send a copy to your own Member of Parliament, and Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario residents).

CPT Asubpeeschoseewagong
General Delivery,
Grassy Narrows ON P0X 1B0
Canada
(613) 988-6928
cptgn@kmts.ca

[www.cpt.org]

CPTnet
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG,ON: High school students speak to Open House
By Matt Schaaf
Feb. 24, 2004

Grassy Narrows high school students, their supporters from the nearby city of Winnipeg and CPTers marched from the Kenora harbour front to the Lakeside Inn on Feb. 17, 2004, bringing the message "Stop clear-cutting" to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and Abitibi-Consolidated, Inc. Students brandished signs--"Abitibi -- mooching off Indians" and "Stop Clear-cutting our Future"--to the chant "MNR you've gone too far!"

Ontario legislation requires MNR and Abitibi to hold a series of Open Houses to consult Kenora residents, loggers, First Nations and other citizens affected by the logging of the Whiskey Jack Forest, which encompasses the Asubpeeschoseewagong community.

After years of attempting to participate in the advice-gathering process, Grassy Narrows residents appeared at Tuesday's Open House to denounce the "consultation." The law requires planners to "consider" the input of other groups, but final decisions rest in the hands of MNR

In a ballroom full of maps, charts, and binders crammed with forestry data, the students and their supporters conversed with MNR and Abitibi officials who did their best to answer questions amid the noisy chatter of protesters dressed as homeless woodland animals and a crowd of plain-clothes Kenora Police Service officers monitoring the gathering.

Students reported to their teachers that government and company officials answered their questions in a circular manner, "leaving them right back where they started."

An Asubpeeschoseewagong band member invited Abitibi and MNR employees to watch a video documentary on the blockade in another hotel ballroom rented by the community. Several people responded and sat in for the one hour video, including the mother and infant daughter of an Abitibi forester.

"It was pretty much what I expected," said one Abitibi worker, who left the room while the showing was still in progress.

At the end of the afternoon and many earnest conversations, students climbed into their school bus and the people form Winnipeg headed for their vans without acknowledgement from MNR that clear-cutting is a real problem. MNR employees repeatedly encouraged protestors to write their opinions into the comment forms provided as it pushed ahead with a process that works for only one party -- Abitibi.

"They want that wood, at any cost. At any cost to us," said blockade organizer JB Fobister.

This January, Abitibi contractors swept through an Asubpeeschoseewagong elder's trap-line, obliterating his hand-cut trail and pine marten traps. The MNR licenses Abitibi's clear-cutting operations in the Grassy Narrows community -- a traditional territory of about 6,500 square kilometres.

The blockade at Slant Lake remains, enforcing the boundaries of the community until Canada, Ontario and the forestry industry begin to make decisions with Grassy Narrows, instead of for them.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has maintained a violence-reduction team in the region since November 2002 at the invitation of the Grassy Narrows Environment Committee.

CPT is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate. Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email peacemakers@cpt.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[admin]

CPTnet
February 14, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG: Abitibi comes to bargaining table. Community faces difficult decisions

"My grandfather taught me an important lesson," recalled a Grassy Narrows community member. "When you think things are impossible, remember the little hands of a beaver and the large dam that it can build over night."

The community of Grassy Narrows is working hard to build and re-build its
own way of life one step at a time. These citizens of the Anishnaabe Nation
(of which Grassy Narrows is a part) have done the impossible by bringing the pulp and paper corporation Abitibi-Consolidated to the bargaining table.

Recently Abitibi has brought a proposal to the community of Grassy Narrows. This proposal outlines areas that will be protected from cutting as well as other areas that the company will continue to to clear-cut. The community of Grassy Narrows has some difficult decisions to make. This proposal offers rights and protections that should already be followed according to Ontario legislation, environment assessments, previous agreements, and Treaty #3.

In accepting this proposal the community would receive immediate economic benefits. In rejecting the proposal the community would run the risk of losing access to the land through unjust court rulings, but would remain committed to nation-to-nation negotiating which is outlined in legal
precedent dating back to the 1700s.

To make this difficult decision, community leaders have developed a survey and go door to door on the reserve polling residents to help the community understand everyone's concerns. The survey also asks for the input of children. This strategy of developing questions and gathering information takes time and while Abitibi pressures the community for quick answers, the community continues along its impossible but entirely possible route in its own time.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace
churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.

Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph
416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email cpt@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[Guest]

March 18, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG, ON: Abitibi breaks more than provincial law
by Matt Schaaf

Abitibi-Consolidated, the pulp & paper company clear-cutting trap-lines on traditional Asubpeeschoseewagong lands, appeared in Ontario court on March 11 to answer twenty-one charges of failing to comply with their Forest Resource licence and making false statements. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), the government body responsible for licensing Abitibi to cut on Anishnaabe land, brought the charges.

CPTers set up a mock clear-cut on the courthouse steps using stumps and slashed branches from Asubpeeschoseewagong lands. CPTers have documented oil spills from logging equipment and waste logs left to rot on Anishnaabe trap-lines cut over by Abitibi contractors Empty oil containers littered the dismal scene, bringing to the logging town of Kenora a reproduction of the damage to trap-lines by Abitibi contractors. (See photos of the mock clearcut and damage to a trap-line on Sagitawong Lake at www.cpt.org)

Signs reading "Abitibi Breaks More Than Provincial Law," "Lets Honour Our Side of the Treaty," and "Laws Broken: International, Treaty, Provincial" ringed the clear-cut.

The United Nations International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, to which Canada is a party, affirms the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully and freely their natural wealth and resources and that in no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence. The practice of clear-cutting has infringed on the ability of Asubpeeschoseewagong band members to sustain their economy.

Many Anishnaabe and nonnative citizens interpret Treaty #3 as an agreement that allows both communities to share the land. However, the Governments of Canada and Ontario maintain that the land was surrendered and support clear-cut forestry as sustainable while it destroys the local trapping and hunting economy.

Local papers and radio picked up the story, and CPTer Scott Kerr cheerfully warned lawyers, police officers and court employees passing through the doors: "Watch your step; you're in a clear-cut" as they threaded their way through stumps and debris. Despite high winds off the Lake of the Woods and freezing temperatures, several passersby stopped to inquire about the scene, and some expressed their support.

Protests of clear-cutting in Kenora consistently receive honks of support and cheering from towns people.

The MNR has occasionally charged Abitibi in the past resulting in fines of several thousand dollars. Abitibi netted 259 million Canadian dollars in 2002 (www.abitibiconsolidated.com.)

Charges were consolidated and the proceedings scheduled to continue in April.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate. Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email peacemakers@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[www.cpt.org]

CPTnet
April 2, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG: Trees as living community members
by Elizabeth Woodyard

[Note: Woodyard, along with six other high school students, joined CPT in Grassy Narrows for their March break. During their time in Grassy Narrows the students were able to meet with community members, teachers and Abitibi officials. This is the first youth delegation to be hosted by CPT in Grassy Narrows.]

It is amazing how quickly relationships can develop between people. Over a six day CPT delegation, seven youth and two sponsors from the Ottawa Mennonite Church (OMC) were welcomed with overwhelming hospitality into the Grassy Narrows community. Through informal lessons and handson experience from trappers, teachers, elders, and youth, the OMC group learned about Anishinabe culture, traditions, and the current conflict with Abitibi Consolidated and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

An important part of the week for me was witnessing the clear cuts. During the twohour drive through the deteriorating landscape, a community member shared with us many meaningful experiences from his life. He told us a story from his childhood when his father took him into the forest, gave him a gun, and instructed him to shoot a birch tree. After doing so, he noticed a clear sap leaking out of the wound in the tree. His father taught him that every living thing has a life force and needs to be treated with the respect and love that one gives to their family. He told us that before one takes from nature, one must first ask permission from the four directions, and afterwards one must offer a gift in gratitude.

After hearing and understanding the Native peoples' respect for trees, it was devastating and frightening to witness the geographical genocide of the clear cuts. The landscape before our eyes, that was once a rich forest and habitat to numerous species, had been drastically diminished to a stark and lonely graveyard, consisting of stump remains and broken branches. I can now only begin to comprehend the pain that the people of Grassy Narrows feel after repeatedly witnessing the mass genocide of these community members.

In addition to murdering thousands of trees, the Abitibi logging practice is destroying trap lines, an important part of Native culture and income. Trapping is a sustainable way of living off the land. Trappers are careful to monitor the traps and observe trends to ensure a sustainable yield of
species. Conversely, clear cutting is nonsustainable, environmentally harmful, and culturally destructive.

After witnessing the clear cuts from the perspective of years of history and connection to the land and wildlife, I can only begin to understand the suffering that the Native people have endured. I do not comprehend how Abitibi Consolidated can consciously enforce such a destructive threat on nature. I join my voice with all others who cry with determination for the protection and preservation of Aboriginal culture and land.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has maintained a violence-reduction presence at Asubpeeschoseewagong since November 2002 at the invitation of the Grassy Narrows Environment Committee.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.

Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email peacemakers@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[admin]

CPTnet
March 30, 2004
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG, ON: "We've been self-managing for thousands of years"
by Lisa Martens

On Friday, March 12, 2004, the provincial government of Ontario issued a "Stop Work" order for a trapper's cabin and trails which Roberta Keesick, Anishnaabe (Ojibway) wants to build in a forest clearing.

Like trappers in countless generations before her, Keesick and her helper are clearing snow on Asubpeeschoseewagong traditional land in order to build a trappers' shelter in accordance with Anishnaabe and Treaty Rights.

The "Stop Work" order was posted by a conservation officer after Keesick and a Senior Technician working for the Province had a conversation on Friday in which the officer said Keesick should get a provincial permit to continue her work. Keesick told the Senior Technician she was covered by her rights under Treaty #3, a covenant between the Anishnaabe Nation and the British Crown which there are several versions.

The order states that "Failure to comply with this order is an offence and could result in a fine of up to $10,000.00 plus an additional fine of not less than $200.00 for each day the activity (activities) continues. This order is pursuant to Subsection 14(5) of the Public Lands Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P43"

Community members point out that while Keesick is threatened with a $10,000 fine, the provincial government grants a logging license to clearcut on Anishnaabe traditional territory without the consent of the Anishnaabe. Clear cutting disrupts Anishnaabe hunting, fishing and sacred space. Community members have suggested that the permit process is an attempt by
Ministry of Natural Resource officials to keep Indigenous people off their traditional territories.

Many Anishnaabe live by their inherent, and Treaty Rights related to their Nationhood, while the province of Ontario wants to be the licensing body for everyone. In the past, the province has burned Anishnaabe-built trapping cabins that to did not meet the Province's specifications. When a Senior Technician called Keesick Monday, March 15, she said, "You should be
managing your own people. Our people have been self-managing for thousands of years." Keesick is considering her strategy for further interaction with Ontario's provincial government.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has maintained a violence-reduction team at Asubpeeschoseewagong since November 2002 at the invitation of the Grassy Narrows Environment Committee.

CPT is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate. Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4, ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org; or CPT, POB 6508 Chicago, IL 60680, ph 773-277-0253 fax 773-277-0291, email peacemakers@igc.org. To join CPTNET, visit us on the WEB: www.cpt.org

[Asubpeeschoseewagong]

CPTnet release from Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows, ON)

June 19, 2004

Stumps and slash in our front yard

International peacemakers dump clearcut mess on Kenora harbour front to signal injustice behind treaty agreements


By Aiden Enns

Okay, most of the hundreds of tourists and shoppers who got information about clearcuts and treaty violations from Christian Peacemaker Teams at the harbour front in Kenora, Ontario, were calm.

Many were supportive.

For example, a 12-member CPT delegation gave treaty violation cards to over 300 people walking or driving in the parking lot between a row of restaurants and the waterfront boardwalk. Ninety-five people signed a petition asking the head of the McClatchy Company--the newspaper chain that buys over 90 percent of Kenoras newsprint from Abitibi Consolidated Inc.--to meet with the Grassy Narrows First Nation to find a solution to ending the clearcut method of logging.

"We haven't had any trouble, except for the guy who tried to run us over," said Joe Carr, 23, a CPT delegate from Kansas City, Missouri.

One man saw red-capped CPTers in front of their mock clearcut (yellow caution tape around a mess of stumps, slash and litter, with signs among the stumps reading "supermarket closed," "lost culture," "depression," "sacred") and hit the accelerator.

Another man from the forestry industry stopped to cuss out the Aboriginal population on Kenora's streets and explain why Anishinabe people should be cut off of welfare. But he discussed the issues for 10 minutes before leaving with a treaty violation card and CPT brochure--unlike three women who appeared to be Mennonite (black head coverings and plain dresses). "They were very cold and brushed us off," said Esther Kern, 61, a CPTer from London, Ontario.

Overall, however, the response was positive. Park managers didnt complain about the temporary mess on the grass. And police slowed but did not stop.

"It's been a long time since we reached that much of an audience," said Matt Schaaf, 28, a member of the long-term CPT team at Grassy Narrows.

"I think it was a good action," said Raphael Fobister, 52, a community member from Grassy Narrows First Nations. "It helps in illustrating the problems were having in the bush where the public is not readily able to view the damage done by the logging companies."

The Kenora action followed an intensive eight-day tour of the forests and meetings with reps from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Abitibi Consolidated Inc., Kenora City Council, Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows) First Nations and Nee Chee Friendship Centre. Delegates came from California, Iowa, Missouri, Oregon, Manitoba and London, Ontario.

Christian Peacemaker teams is maintaining a violence-reduction team at the blockade of logging roads in the area of Grassy Narrows. CPT has sent delegations there since 1999 and has maintained a full-time presence since November 2002.


-end-


Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
Contact CPT, PO Box 72063, 1562 Danforth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 1N4,
ph 416-423-5525, fax 416-423-9213, email canada@cpt.org,
website www.cpt.org

--------------

June 2nd, 2004
>CPT Grassy Narrows, ON.
>By Joe Carr
>
>As we nine CPT short-term delegates filtered into the Grassy Narrows First
>Nation last Friday, community members joined us for a potluck. In awkward
>silence and separation, we hugged the walls, clung to each other, and had
>sparse interaction. We were faced with the ultimate challenge of adapting
>ourselves to another culture.

>As members of the dominant culture, we CPTers are used to others adapting
>themselves to us. However,the Anishinaabe people invited us into their
>space so we needed to do what we could to make them comfortable. The
>Anishinaabe have a quiet, passive, respectful way of speaking, and are
>easily put-off by our loud, aggressive, and interrupting style. Working to
>adapt, we realized how systems of domination are within us, manifested in
>the way we communicate.
>
>Andy Keewatin, a local trapper and fisherman, invited us to his home to
>show us movies about how Anishinaabe life used to be. We left in the
>middle of one of the movies to do other things, and we later realized how
>rude that was. So we went back the next day and finished the movie, but he
>had no hard feelings, and took two delegates fishing that evening.
>
>Kaaren, a local teacher, taught us that the Anishinaabe seek to live in
>harmony with their mother earth. The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)
>sees trees in terms of "resource control", "timber extraction", and "wood
>fibre", whereas the Anishinaabe see the trees and animals as their family
>to be respected. We asked her how we could apply that world view to the
>city, and she said she didn’t know, that was for us to figure out.

>Despite differing world views and communication styles, our interactions
>with community members have become delightful and genuine. They have
>shared incredibly personal stories with us about life before the reserve
>was moved, the horrors of residential schools, and how clear cutting has
>devastated their way of life. We ask for your prayers for our upcoming
>work, meeting with non-natives in the near-by city of Kenora, and holding
>a public demonstration downtown to raise awareness about the human costs
>of clear cutting.

>After spending a good part of the previous day discussing how to improve
>our interactions with the community, we gathered in the roundhouse, a
>sacred structure, for dinner with several local women. Afterwards, they
>sang and played music for us on their drums. Matt and Joe also played some
>songs on their guitars. The two groups alternated back and forth, between
>traditional Anishinaabe drum-songs and popular folk tunes. On the last
>song, they all played together, finding a common ground in the music. Our
>genuine communication came more naturally than we’d thought, in the strum
>of a guitar and the beat of a drum.
>
>
>
>--
>Doug Pritchard
>Canada Coordinator
>Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada -
>Equipes Chrétiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
>Tel (416) 423-5525
>Fax (416) 423-9213
>
>So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
> Romans 12:18

-----------------------------------------------
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada -
Equipes Chrétiennes d'Action pour la Paix Canada
Tel 416-423-5525
Mobile 647-297-7079
Fax 416-423-9213

I am coming to gather all nations...
and they shall come and shall see my glory...
For as the new heavens and the new earth,
which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD;
so shall your descendants and your name remain.
Isaiah 66:18,22

[canada@cpt.org]

Dealing With Racism Against First Nations People in NW Ontario

Creation of the Anishnaabe Coalition for Peace and Justice


CPTnet - Healing Needed
Asubpeeschoseewagong
June 22, 2004
by Matt Schaaf and Lisa Martens


This is how an Asubpeeschoseewagong man described generational racism in the nearby town of Kenora to CPT member Matt Schaaf:

"White youths beat native people when they are teenagers, then they grow up to become mayors, business people, city councillors, police officers. And their kids, the next generation of civic leaders, do the same."

Racist attacks in the Kenora area span recent decades, and happen both to people who live on Kenoras streets and those who live on reserves and come into town to shop etc.. "I have a real, deep-in-my-stomach, deadly fear," explained one Grassy Narrows woman to CPT member Lisa Martens. "I'm scared for my kids." In the late 1970s, the woman's father and cousin had been driving between Grassy Narrows and Kenora and had stopped to help four strangers with their car. Her father bent into his trunk to get his jack. The next thing he knew, he was waking up, badly beaten, with the cousin behind him in the back seat. He managed to open his car door before blacking out again. Those who attacked him had left the car running, plugged the exhaust pipe, and raped and beaten the cousin. She died. The family reported the incident to the police but have heard of no follow-up.

One hears very little about violence between white and Anishnaabe people on the streets of Kenora. Of the Anishnaabe displaced from their lands, there are often about forty or so of them living a life on the street. They become a target for beatings. Community Organizers and NGO workers identify a youth gang, the Kenora Indian Bashersas one of the aggressors.

On April 30, 2004, a local business owner found Stewart Smith in a pool of blood behind the United Church in Kenora. Beaten nearly to death in the early morning, he was rushed to Winnipeg where he lay in a coma for weeks. CPTers and a group of Anishnaabe and white citizens of Kenora gathered in the alley on May 14 to pray for Stewart and his attacker(s). Police have not identified a suspect.

An elder prayed for Stewart's healing in the Ojibway language, and others around the circle added their prayers and commitment to addressing violence. The elder concluded his prayer hoping that the attacker would realize what he had done. The group sang "Amazing Grace" and finished with the song "O Healing River" which includes the lyrics, "O healing river, send down your waters and wash the blood from off the sand." One of Stewart's aunties then spoke about seeing her nephews wounds filled with sand and blood from the gravelled alleyway where he had lain all night.

The Kenora Police Service (KPS) and Ontario Provincial Police are jointly investigating the beating. In regards to deterring violence against Anishnaabe people in Kenora, KPS Deputy Chief Dan Jorgensen reported, "The police are doing all we can do." The Anishnaabe Coalition for Peace and Justice, in which CPT is involved, is forming to take more responsibility for what goes on in Kenora's streets.

Christian Peacemaker Teams has maintained a violence-reduction presence at Asubpeeschoseewagong since November 2002 at the invitation of the Grassy Narrows Environment Committee.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
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