INM and Defenders Call to Action
May 20 IdleNoMore
Call to Action
https://www.box.com/s/b4nliy1q8u1f0v8n3j9g
IdleNoMore Call to Action: Defenders of the Land
Sovereignty Summer
Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah (Mohawk) Workers Seek Redress at UN for Years of Oppression Including Apartheid / Genocide & Restoration of a Homeland #INM
May 20, 2013 “Victoria Day” Meeting between the Mohawk Workers of the Ouse / Grand River representing the Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah (Mohawks) of Grand River and UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya in respect of an apartheid / genocide case against Canada, Walton International, and other entities takes place:
Manhate New Amsterdam 1664 Wall Street
A statement was given by the the Mohawk Workers’ delegation at in the lobby of the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel in New York at 7:00 pm where delegates were available in order to answer questions in respect of the attached letter to the UN Special Rapporteur, as well as the preliminary outline of UNDRIP allegations. #IdleNoMore co-founder, Sylvia McAdam and other supporters were invited to take part as well.
UPDATE from New York (8:30 p.m May 20):
Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah (Mohawk Workers) Delegates Rakwirehawi and Ratsiahawe described the meeting as having developed “very well”, and expressed their gratitude to the Special Rapporteur for meeting with the delegation.
Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka (Mohawks) of Grand River – Submission of UNDRIP Violations Chart with UNDRIP Article, Issues / Evidence of Contravention or Violation, and Redress Sought
Dutch / British Corporate Slave Trade on Manhate (Manhatten) -
(Taking Place in Un-ceded Onkwehon:we Lands)
UNDRIP Article
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.
Onkwehon:we Unity and Harmony
Issue / Violation:
The Indian Act – Section 20 – Possession of lands in a reserve 20. (1) No Indian is lawfully in possession of land in a reserve unless, with the approval of the Minister, possession of the land has been allotted to him by the council of the band.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission
20. (4) Where possession of land in a reserve has been allotted to an Indian by the council of the band, the Minister may, in his discretion, withhold his approval and may authorize the Indian to occupy the land temporarily and may prescribe the conditions as to use and settlement that are to be fulfilled by the Indian before the Minister approves of the allotment.
6 Suspected Walton Corp. Targets Wanted for Questioning by Mohawk Workers – Kanata
(Observed at Tutela Heights on Wed. Sept. 12, 2012 within Ancient Tutelo Longhouse, settlements & Burial Site area without Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah (Mohawk) authorization.
There are numerous other prima facie examples of government apartheid and other violations of recognized human rights including Canada’s policy of imprisonment by race as evidenced by inter alia, former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci’s “alarming” February 26, 2013 report recognizing that our people face “systemic racism” within the Ontario provincial justice system. Great Britain and Canada’s depraved residential school genocide including Canada’s current policy to conceal evidence and neglect to prosecute plain and obvious crimes against humanity constitutes perhaps the most egregious example of deviousness and repugnancy demonstrated by a state in our peoples’ history.
Redress / Assurances Sought:
1. Acknowledgment of the title I carry for my people, and the Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka of Grand River’s inherent right to full autonomy including sovereign self-governance (true democracy according to our tradition and beliefs, pursuant to the Law of Great Peace) within our Grand River allodial territorial homeland as pledged, without interference, of any kind on the part of the state of Canada including derived entities and corporations.
Onkwehon:we Community Culture and Teaching of Children before alien TB and Flu epidemics and assimilation genocide.
2. Full recognition of Canada’s obligations in respect of succession of Great Britain’s covenants and treaty obligations; in particular the Royal Proclamation of 1763, Haldiamnd’s Pledge of 1779, Haldimand’s Proclamation of 1784, and the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
Haldimand Proclamation of 1784
(Original Copy Held in Trust by Mohawk Workers)
3. Full compensation for all damages including apartheid, genocide and lands usurped and corrupted without color of right.
1713 Treaty of Utrecht s. 15 “The Subject of France and others inhabiting Canada shall hereafter
Give no Hinderance or Molestation to the five nations” Onkwehon:we
UNDRIP Article
2. Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.
NOTE: “Indian” according to the Indian Act, means: “A person who pursuant to this Act is registered as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as an Indian.”
Ohrerekó:wa, known as Edwin (Ted) Squire Hill, Principle Chief for Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah Wolf Clan (Mohawks) of Grand River carries Chief’s antlers and a title for our people as set out within the foundation of what is known as the 5 Nation Confederacy or League of Great Peace.
Our people are Onkwehon:we – original people and custodians of our lands by birthright, yet Canada’s apartheid policies render our people landless tenants and virtual state wards robbing us of equality and our identity due to our racial origins. Widely-published facts including statistics indicate that racist / sexist stereotypes deny the dignity and worth of Indigenous people–women in particular–which conditions increasing numbers of predators to engage in violent / hateful acts against them. This is increasingly aggravated by inflammatory / racist media commentary, and is clearly and abundantly evidenced in hateful commentary / rhetoric published in on-line comment sections operated and controlled by SunMedia and certain other corporate media entities.
Corporate Cyber Propaganda Belittling Mohawk United Nations and Brantford Council delegations.
In addition, decades of racist state policies have impoverished and broken apart Indigenous families / communities, leaving many Indigenous people extremely vulnerable to exploitation / violence, incarcerated, or otherwise wards of the state. In instances within this territory and throughout the lands, police forces and indeed many state and state-enacted entities have failed to institute necessary measures such as training, appropriate investigative protocols and accountability mechanisms, to eliminate bias in how they respond to the needs of Indigenous victims of hatred, violence and discrimination, particularly women and their families. In the Northwest Territories, 95% of children in foster care are indigenous. [2011 National Household Survey]
Redress / Assurance Sought:
Tien Tan Pham beaten in his in home and heaved into a door by police after he called 911 to request assistance for police warrantless intrusion into his dwelling. It’s Pham and his guests who are charged and before the courts for the vicious police intrusion into a private dwelling place.
4. The enactment of meaningful legislation which includes efficient and effective mechanisms to seek redress, preventing Canada including derived entities and corporations from interfering with our peoples’ right to full enjoyment of life, liberty and freedom of the person.
5. Acknowledgement and reorganization of the Gayanerekowa, the foundation and constitution of our system of order and governance on the part of the state and state-enacted entities.
UNDRIP Article
3. Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission
On October 7, 1924, the RCMP stormed the Six Nations Council House, dissolved the Confederacy, and forcibly imposed an elected Band Council in its place, forcing traditional chiefs who carried titles for our people to assimilate – or face persecution. A “homogenous culture” was promoted, and forced assimilation has increasingly become Canada’s endorsed and implemented acculturation strategy. The elected band council system remains in place to-date notwithstanding persistent unsuccessful attempts to return to our traditional system which remains fractured and suppressed.
May 17 2013 CBC News The National – Comments on silly story and conern of corporate propaganda / state cover-up / blackout
Redress / Assurance Sought:
6. Assurances that Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah will no longer be forced and expected to adhere to alien laws without our prior and informed consent in accordance with Queen Anne’s Order in Council dated 10 July 1704 recognizing my people’s original jurisdiction.
Gayanerekowa
“Great Harmony”
UNDRIP Article
4. Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.
5 Nation League of Great Peace circa 1712
Notes: Queen Elizabeth recognized most recently in 2013 that the Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka (Mohawks) of Grand River as her allies and conveyed her greetings to our people distinctly. She has agreed to act within the capacity of her Governor General on the advice of her Canadian ministers in respect of our territorial appeal in respect of inter alia, our Grand River Homeland, an accounting for the period 1784-1867, etc.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission
Under the forcibly imposed Indian Act and elected Band Council regime, our people must struggle in order to exercise any right to meaningful self-determination or traditional self-governance. Aside from our ally, Queen Elizabeth, recognition by Canada and on all state levels remains obsolete. Autonomous traditional functions were dissolved and utterly eliminated and an oppressive and discriminatory practice of Federal funding maintains and fosters nepotism, corruption and discrimination.
Mohawk Workers charge corruption
The elected council and our communities must thereby adhere to all Federal and Provincial polices without the opportunity to participate in decision-making at such levels. The Six Nations Elected Band Council’s municipal-modeled assimilation regiment enacted, controls and currently funds a Ceremonial “Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council” which in turn controls an entity known as “Haudenosaunee Development Institute” or HDI who employs Ontario Lawyer Aaron Detlor. Despite expenditures of millions by both State-funded councils annually in legal costs in respect of Grand River territory dispute negotiations without our people’s consent, to-date neither a scintilla of land, nor a single reparation payment has been achieved.
Invoice and debts approach 1 Trillion – yet city of Brantford remains in obstructive denial mode despite promises and acknowledgments that claims are “totally valid”
Redress / Assurances Sought:
7. Compensation and redress for damages and suffering caused at the unclean hands of the states of Canada and Great Britain, including the delivery of an accounting, and proportionate return of all “Indian Trust” monies taken or otherwise derived by the state from the part of our people enabling our people to exercise self-determination, autonomy and independence.
8. Undertaking on the part of the State of Canada to Queen Elizabeth to act within the the rule of law including customary and obligatory British covenants, treaties and proclamations and introduce / demonstrate measures including a functional mechanism to hold relevant levels and derived entities to these obligations within its federal capacity in respect of our territorial appeal in respect of inter alia, our Grand River territory, an accounting for the period 1784-1867, etc.
UNDRIP Article
5. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.
City of Brantford Refuses water services Mohawk Wokers of Kanata – yet Spiritual Fire Burns for Onkwehon:we and all to give thanks.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission
Our constitution, the Gayanerekowa pre-dates European law and imposed jurisdiction. The Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka, who are the founders and head of the League of Great Peace have been prevented from maintaining this system of order by the state, thereby destroying our entire way of life including peaceful co-existence with other people and our natural environment. We have never consented to assimilate or abandon this codified system of natural harmony, peace and order.
Redress / Assurances Sought:
8. The implementation of a hybrid system whereby our traditional systems of order can be re-instilled within our Grand River territorial homeland providing options for our people to also participate fully within Canadian state systems outside of the jurisdiction if and as any of our people choose freely to do so.
Article:
6. Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
Indian Act policies and practices enable the state to unilaterally and arbitrarily label our people with false “nationalities”. From 1867 to present day, Canada refuses to officially recognize Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah as a people or nation. Often Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka are falsely registered within “Band Lists” as Cayuga, Seneca, or other nationalities with no meaningful method of obtaining redress which is tantamount to administrative genocide.
Redress / Assurances Sought:
9. Official recognition of the Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka as a distinct people on the part of all levels of the state within Canada.
UNDRIP Article:
7. (i) Indigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person.
Contact us & help to stop the further corruption of Mohawk Lands by unauthorized parties.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
See: February 26, 2013 Report on First Nations Representation on Ontario Juries; “I have called it a crisis, a serious crisis. And I am not an alarmist. We are talking about the lives and liberties of people. I don’t know if you can get more of an important issue subject than that… We can’t continue to treat First Nations as objects. We have to be partners. I don’t care if it is in the justice system or economic development. It is going to take time.” – Former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, February 26, 2013.
Child / Plastiras Ignore Notice From Mohawks of the Ouse – Corporate Frauds and Currency Crimes Fail to cause a single investigation by Canadian authorities who accept donations and paybacks from corporate gravediggers and taskmasters.
See also: “Close to one-in-four inmates in federal penitentiaries today are of Aboriginal ancestry, yet Aboriginal-specific legislative provisions are chronically under-funded, under-utilized and unevenly applied by the Correctional Service. In failing to fully meet Parliament’s intent, my review concludes that the federal correctional system perpetuates conditions of disadvantage for Aboriginal people in Canada.” Howard Sapers, Federal Correctional Investigator, Office of the Correctional Investigator March 7, 2013 – Spirit Matters
Onkwehhon:weh Rising
According to the Canadian Institute of Child Health, our indigenous youth commit suicide five to six times more often than their non-indigenous peers. Our males (aged 15-24 years) die from suicide at a rate of 126/100,000 vs the national average males of the same age who are lost at 24/100,000. Our young women (aged 15-24 years) are lost to suicide at 35/100,000 compared with 5/100,000 National. Research reveals relationships between cultural factors, such as self-governance, land claims negotiation, local control over education and health services, and lower rates of youth suicide in Indigenous populations.
A March 7, 2013 Special Report on Aboriginal Corrections by Federal Correctional Investigator, Howard Sapers states: “Close to one-in-four inmates in federal penitentiaries today are of Aboriginal ancestry, yet Aboriginal-specific legislative provisions are chronically under-funded, under-utilized and unevenly applied by the Correctional Service. In failing to fully meet Parliament’s intent, my review concludes that the federal correctional system perpetuates conditions of disadvantage for Aboriginal people in Canada.” The report found that an “alarming” upward-trending (40%) increase in the Aboriginal incarcerated population between 2001-02 and 2010-11, and “worst of all, no progress in closing the large gaps in correctional outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal inmates.” The report found that such destructive social policies have marginalized indigenous people and that such an on-going and institutionalized practice “defines systemic discrimination.”
The cumulative effect of untold volumes of similar and related state and state-derived commissions, reports, study, and co-called “consultation” strewn over many decades at all state-levels is a failure to curb Canada’s persistent attacks upon the rights and lands of our people, notwithstanding persistent clear and compelling evidence of systemic racism, apartheid and genocide time after time.
“I am of the view once Canadians see the truth of what is going on, they’ll be convinced we need to do something about it.” – Former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, February 26 2013
Redress / Assurances Sought:
10. Commitments from the United Nations to take all necessary steps, on an urgent basis, toward the immediate appointment, deployment and instillation of United Nations peacekeepers and / or observers within our territory and in Brantford in order to document and report upon progress in respect of achieving meaningful transition from the current repugnant crisis to peaceful and respectful coexistence within our Grand river territorial homeland.
11. Implementation at all state levels of proportionate funding formulas sufficient to deal appropriately with our people’s physical and mental health crisis, as well as social and economic inequalities resulting from injustices perpetrated on our people by the state.
12. The immediate return to our communities of all children who have been taken by the state, and compensation provided to all families devastated by such inhuman acts.
13. The imposition of a deadline of July 1 2013 for Canada to provide a commitment with assurances to our people that it shall adhere to the UNDRIP in both spirit and good faith and in practice including by the enacting of measures sufficient and necessary to effectively compel all state levels and state-derived entities to same.
UNDRIP Article:
7. (ii) Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
Our people continue to endure on-going systemic genocide at the unclean hands of the state and state-derived entities on many fronts at Federal, Provincial, and municipal levels both inside and out of our Grand River territory. Increasing instances of targeting and forced removal of our children by dysfunctional both Native and Non-native “social services”-guised entities is not only utterly inconsistent with our traditions, moreover, it causes an exponentially-cumulative effect of expanded genocide.
Politician (Brantford Mayor) Friel admits claims are massive – legit – and must be paid in August 28 2000, but now says he’s not squatting.
Redress / Assurances Sought:
14. Economic sanctions against the state of Canada may be only stimulus sufficient to motivate this regime to respect and indeed adhere to the rule of law in these grave and urgent circumstances and realities as presently exist. Our children – our future generation is held in the balance facing increasing threats evidenced by diminishing survival odds.
UNDRIP Article:
8. (i) Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
Canada’s recent history of passing unpopular, controversial federal omnibous legislation without consultation with our people has an increasing net effect of further assimilating us into undesired systems, destroying our environment and culture, and increasingly subjecting us to foreign and inhumane ‘welfare-state’ existences in place of recognizing, respecting, and protecting our distinct spiritual connection to our environment including lands and resources.
Redress / Assurance Sought:
15. The repeal or nullification of legislation at all state levels which is evidenced to be inconsistent with prevailing humanitarian standards and law, or which has been enacted in lieu of meaningful consultation / participation with our people if it affects us either directly or indirectly.
Baltimore Orioles seen at Kanata meters from a toxic City pay-dump & sewage methane facility.
Article:
8. (ii) States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for: (a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
Canada’s current regime has become increasingly hostile to mechanisms which protect human rights. “Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society. It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.” – Steven Harper, 1999
Redress / Assurance Sought:
16. Technical assistance from the United Nations in order that true copies of all relevant records and documents in the possession of all state-levels be secured without delay in light of Canada’s historical violations of disclosure obligations and bad faith.
UNDRIP Article:
8. (ii) (b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
Evidence / Preliminary Submission
Canada as a state today, lacks any meaningful mechanism which can adequately protect our land and resources from increasing plunder. All directly or in-directly federally-funded entities guised to effect meaningful protections remain subject ultimately to the increasingly totalitarianistic regime. There is not a single instance of any attempt undertaken by my people to-date, throughout the course over 200 years of persistent struggles, which has achieved any significant measure of success in respect of curbing the dispossession of our people of our lands and resources.
Up to 50,000+ L of jet fuel is suspected to have been dumped subsequent to 1:21 a.m. EDT On Oct 10 from United Flight 934 – Canada refused to talk about it and yet wrongfully asserts jurisdiction – without consultation, responsibility, or accountability whatsoever.
Redress / Assurance Sought:
17. Economic sanctions against the state and guilty state-derived entities could deter on a punitive basis, while at the same time providing for compensation to our people, for the corruption and wholesale theft of our lands and resources from our future generations. Entities which respect our land and resources ought not to be punished for the wanton acts of individually depraved and reckless plunderers.
Lands Proclaimed in 1784 by Haldimand to the Mohawks “forever”.
UNDRIP Article:
8. (ii) (c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
NOTE: At the time of our settlement at Mohawk Village at Brant’s Ford in 1784, the land was inhabited by nearly all indigenous peoples pursuant to our customs. According to 2011 NHS data, the population has been obliterated with Brantford non-indigenous occupants currently making up 91.7% of the population.
Joseph Brant
Redress / Assurances Sought:
18. Impose an immediate moratorium in respect of unauthorized development and resource extraction on lands claimed by our people pending a binding disposition.
19. Commitment to a transition protocol which acknowledged that the return of Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka lands usurped by the state at Brant’s Ford and Tutela Heights, and elsewhere within our territory is necessary, just, and far past-due.
UNDRIP Article:
8. (ii) (d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
NOTE: Net effects of mass alien immigration within our territory has resulted in less than 400 individuals who can still speak an indigenous language living in Brantford. Indigenous only among the 380 Aboriginal people who reported an Aboriginal language as mother tongue, 26.3% could no longer conduct a conversation in this language, despite the fact that they still understand it. The current regime continues to openly advocate for and implement increasing forced assimilation and integration strategies upon our people. This is evidenced by its racist “Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy, which is an integrated approach to Aboriginal labour market programming that links training to labour market demand.” While the assimilation scheme supports some 80 indigenous organizations in the delivery of “programs and services to increase Aboriginal participation in the Canadian labour market”, it focuses on three strategic assimilation agendas: supporting skills development only for those indigenous participants who willingly integrate or assimilate into the Canadian workforce; offering the private sector with subsidized assimilated indigenous peoples and the provinces and territories; and accountability and results. The program was launched in April 2010 with funding of $1.6 billion over five years.
Redress / Relief Sought:
20. Clarification from the United Nations including assurances that having been deprived of our ancestral lands under colonialism and apartheid, access to land for the dispossessed ought not be equated with the protection of property acquired under apartheid, and as a consequence of genocide. This entails a commitment to ensuring a full accounting and truth and reconciliation with the collective dispossession suffered by the Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka.
UNDRIP Article:
8. (ii) (e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
“Mr. McHale’s urging of Douglas Fleming to ignore police requests and to take further steps to block the road only served to increase the volatility of an already dangerous situation unfolding that day.” – Crown attorney Brent Bentham, April 2013.
“But for you, Caledonia would have been a relatively peaceful place.” Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino.
Especially disturbing was the appropriation of Martin Luther King’s words to support an anti-native cause: “These right-wingers say that they’re anti-racist, that they’re fighting for equality for all. But what they’re really calling for is an end to all land rights and treaty rights for all First Nations people…They’re taking some of the most important principles that we hold dear and are misappropriating them in order to increase tensions and divisions between Six Nations people and Caledonia. Whether they admit it or not, their activity increases the potential for violence against First Nations people.” Niki Thorne of CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group (FNSWG)
On April 21, 2010 the Crown stayed a charge against self-proclaimed Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality executive director and notorious provocateur, Gary McHale – a man the Crown still contends was attempting to incite civil disobedience at a protest against an indigenous people in Caledonia – stating publicly that it was still the Crown’s position there is a “reasonable prospect of conviction”, notwithstanding its unexplained act and despite having accused McHale of being behind numerous confrontations against Indigenous people and police. Fantino, while on the stand in April 2009, accused McHale of being an agitator who provoked confrontations and baited
police.
In 2009 McHale took part in attempting to establish the “Caledonia Militia”, and on March 21st, 2010 his organization organized a rally for what it described as “race-based policing” that discriminates against white people on the same day anti-racist and Indigenous solidarity activists organized to denounce the escalation of racism and colonial violence on both occasions.
McHale and his group perversely appropriated the language of “Truth and Reconciliation” and further mocked “Indian Residential School” survivors by publicly demanding that an official apology be issued to the people of Caledonia from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Ontario government, and Indigenous peoples. Escalating tensions, McHale’s group announced it intended to erect an “apology monument” on Kanonhstaton (Indigenous reclaimed land) and demanded a similar apology from the government as that given to the Indigenous people in respect of the residential school system.
Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality executive director, Gary McHale received a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal on February 18, 2013. “This medal sends a strong message that the OPP and all political parties should take note (of)… Citizens will not surrender their rights and freedoms on the altar of political correctness.” – McHale, 2013. 21. An undertaking to investigate how McHale came to become one of only 60,000 “deserving Canadians recognized for their contributions to Canada or to a particular province, territory or community, or for their outstanding achievement abroad that has brought great credit to our country”, – and which contributions specifically contributed to his award.
Redress / Assurances sought:
22. Assurances that the United Nations will engage this situation in order to fully investigate same – and to protect our people from racial / ethnic discrimination which the state appears to reward.
NOTE: The shock of the Holocaust served to signify a change in prevailing conceptions of law – return to Natural Law which is founded in harmony and where the notion that sacred values exist and an elementary level of humanity that cannot be transgressed. It further served to illustrate why violence required moderation by an international system. Our current situation illustrates the urgent need for dialectic and the increasing levels of hatred and violence being fostered against our attempts to obtain redress within domestic and now international legal systems.
UNDRIP Article:
9. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and customs of the community or nation concerned. No discrimination of any kind may arise from the exercise of such a right.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
Apartheid in South Africa was based upon the Canadian reserve system experience. The punitive effect of internationally-imposed sanctions finally brought about an end to South African oppression. Meanwhile Canada’s assimilation, genocide and apartheid remains unaddressed, uncurbed, and unacceptable in that our people continue suffer the denial of the right to our own Nation in accordance with our traditions and customs.
Redress / Assurance Sought:
23. A declaration and commitment to end apartheid within Canada at all state levels.
UNDRIP Article:
10. Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.
Evidence / Preliminary Submission:
During our early history with Great Britain, it was the Crown who protected our people from the likes of non-indigenous land speculators, fraud, trespassers, squatters and racism victimizing us. Currently, the state of Canada (at all levels) maintains obstructive and oppressive policies which frustrate our attempts to resolve past and on-going violations of our rights. Canada’s official “Land Claims Policy” is fundamentally flawed and inconsistent with the rule of law.
Redress / assurance sought:
24. An acknowledgement that laws / policy in existence past or present, under Canada’s apartheid system legitimizes neither the unlawful acts of forced removal and relocation, nor can it in any way justify discrimination, apartheid and genocide under any circumstances or guise.
(Opening) United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 12th session – ECOSOC 20 May 2013
Opening ceremony of the Twelfth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Mohawk Workers Invited to U.N. to Raise Apartheid & Genocide Allegations at Historic Meeting in New York with James Anaya, UN Special Rapportur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
April 29, Letter to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
James Anaya, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Greetings,
We wish to pre-register the Mohawk Workers of the Ouse / Grand River for possible participation and consultations with James Anaya at this event in New York next month. We also hope you are able to visit our Grand River Territory in order to meet with Ohrerekó:wa, Principle Chief – Ka-nyen-geh-ha-ka (Mohawk) Wolf Clan, and others from our community when you are in Canada in order to better understand our situation.
Our mission is to seek redress for years of oppression including apartheid and genocide and the restoration of a Ka-nyen-geh-ha-kah homeland within our Haldimand Territory.
We expect to engage all relevant parties in the hopes of commencing resolution discussions in advance of the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Canada which we understand is finally set to occur within the coming months. At this time we expect to further raise concerns of gross violations of the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, apartheid and genocide, and follow up on our preliminary submission made in 2012.
The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity “committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”
On 30 November 1973, the United Nations General Assembly opened for signature and ratification the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. It defined the crime of apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.”
Bombshell: Major New Study Links GMO Food To Leukemia (please share widely)
The Corporate-financed or ‘mainstream media’ is not telling this story; it’s up to us, as individuals, to take some time to learn about these important truths – and then to share with others we care about. This is about human health and safety – and it’s deadly serious.
From: New Study Links GMO Food To Leukemia By: Sayer Ji
A new study, yet to receive any media attention, reveals the “leukemogenic” properties of the Bt toxin biopesticides engineered into the vast majority of GMO food crops already within the US food supply.
Last September, the causal link between cancer and genetically modified food was confirmed in a French study, the first independent long-term animal feeding study of its kind. The disturbing details can be found here: New Study Finds GM Corn and Roundup Causes Cancer In Rats
Now, a new study published in the Journal of Hematology & Thromboembolic Diseases indicates that the biopesticides engineered into GM crops known as Bacillus Thuringensis (Bt) or Cry-toxins, may also contribute to blood abnormalities from anemia to hematological malignancies (blood cancers) such as leukemia.[i]
A group of scientists from the Department of Genetics and Morphology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Brasilia, Brasilia/DF, Brazil set out to test the purported human and environmental biosafety of GM crops, looking particularly at the role that the Bt toxin found within virtually all GM food crops plays on non-target or non-insect animal species.
The research was spurned by the Brazilian Collegiate Board of Directors of the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), who advocated in 2005 for evaluations of toxicity and pathogenicity of microbiological control agents such as Bt, given that little is known about their toxicological potential in non-target organisms, including humans.
While Bacillus Thurigensis spore-crystals have been used since the late 1960′s in agriculture as a foliar insecticide, it was only after the advent of recombinant DNA biotechnology that these toxin-producing genes (known as delta endotoxins) were first inserted into the plants themselves and released into commercial production in the mid-90′s, making their presence in the US food supply and the bodies of exposed populations ubiquitous.
What the new study revealed is that various binary combinations and doses of Bt toxins target mammalian cells, particularly the erythroid (red blood cell) lineage, resulting in white and red blood cell changes indicative of significant damage. Some of these adverse changes included anemia,and suppression of bone marrow proliferation and abnormal lymphocyte changes consistent with some types of leukemia.
The researchers also found that one of the prevailing myths about the selective toxicity of Bt to insects, the target species, no longer holds true:
It has been reported that Cry toxins exert their toxicity when activated at alkaline pH of the digestive tract of susceptible larvae, and, because the physiology of the mammalian digestive system does not allow their activation, and no known specific receptors in mammalian intestinal cells have been reported, the toxicity these MCAs to mammals would negligible [8,22,23]. However, our study demonstrated that Bt spore-crystals genetically modified to express individually Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac or Cry2A induced hematotoxicity, particularly to the erythroid lineage.This finding corroborates literature that demonstrated that alkali-solubilized Bt spore-crystals caused in vitro hemolysis in cell lines of rat, mouse, sheep, horse, and human erythrocytes and suggested that the plasma membrane of susceptible cells (erythrocytes, in this case) may be the primary target for these toxins [33]
1) That Cry toxins are capable of exerting their adverse effects when suspended in distilled water, not requiring alkalinization via insect physiology to become activated as formerly believed.2) That a dose of Cry1Ab as low as 27 mg/kg, their lowest tested dose, was capable of inducing hypochromic anemia in mice – the very toxin has been detected in blood of non-pregnant women, pregnant women and their fetuses in Canada, supposedly exposed through diet.3) Whereas past reports have found that Bt toxins are generally nontoxic and do not bioaccumulate in fatty tissue or persist in the environment, the new study demonstrated that all Cry toxins tested had a more pronounced effect from 72 hours of exposure onwards, indicating the opposite is true.4) That high-dose Cry toxin doses caused blood changes indicative of bone marrow damage (damage to “hematopoietic stem cell or bone marrow stroma”).
The authors noted their results “demonstrate leukemogenic activity for other spore-crystals not yet reported in the literature.”
They concluded:
[R]esults showed that the Bt spore-crystals genetically modified to express individually Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac or Cry2A can cause some hematological risks to vertebrates,increasing their toxic effects with long-term exposure. Taking into account the increased risk of human and animal exposures to significant levels of these toxins, especially through diet, our results suggest that further studies are required to clarify the mechanism involved in the hematotoxicity found in mice, and to establish the toxicological risks to non-target organisms, especially mammals, before concluding that these microbiological control agents are safe for mammals.
Did you get that? Their conclusion is that it is premature to consider GM toxins to be safe in mammals. Billions have already been exposed to Bt toxins, in combination with glyphosate-based herbicide formulations such as Roundup, and yet, most biotech research scientists and industry regulators still claim they are unequivocally safe. This has much to do with the well-known relationship that biotech corporations like Monsanto have with so-called ‘check book’ science firms who are basically paid to obfuscate adverse health outcomes of their products, such as the GMO-Cancer link. [see: Monsanto-Funded Science Denies Emerging Roundup Cancer Link]
Consider also that the question of combined toxicity of Cry toxins and glyphosate-based residues within plants have not been sufficiently explored, and that glyphosate exposure has already been linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and hairy cell leukemia in the biomedical literature.[ii]
The reality is that we no longer have time to wait around for additional research to accumulate on the adverse health effects of GMOs, especially considering the biotech industry has far more capital to infuse into their own faux research on the topic.
Some, in fact, argue that we should not be waiting around for the corrupt legislative process to compel manufacturers to label GMOs, rather, we should be fighting to BAN THEM NOW, advocating for the precautionary principle before its too late.
In the meantime, you can join the growing movement to March Against Monsanto, occurring world wide on May 25th, as a way of expressing your desire for real change, as well as vote with your forks, the only immediately effective tool we have against biological and environmental gene-ocide articulated by the dominant GMO-based food system.
Surprise! Monsanto-Funded Research Finds Their Products Safe
Health Guide: GMO Research
[i] Bélin Poletto Mezzomo, Ana Luisa Miranda-Vilela, Ingrid de Souza Freire, Lilian Carla Pereira Barbosa, Flávia Arruda Portilho. Hematotoxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis as Spore-crystal Strains Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac or Cry2Aa in Swiss Albino Mice. Journal of Hematology and Thromboembolic Diseases. 2013
[ii] Lennart Hardell, Mikael Eriksson, Marie Nordstrom. Exposure to pesticides as risk factor for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and hairy cell leukemia: pooled analysis of two Swedish case-control studies. Leuk Lymphoma. 2002 May;43(5):1043-9. PMID: 12148884
This article first appeared at GreenMedInfo. Please visit to access their vast database of articles and the latest information in natural health.
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Colonial Realities: Exposing the mystery of “It” (Part 1)
In the recent discussions surrounding Idle No More and Indigenous rights in this country, a persistent question has gripped the non-Indigenous population.
This salient question has existed for many years and yet still manages to perplex and confuse. A satisfactory solution seems unavailable to those who are seeking an answer.
“Why don’t they just get over It?”
Part of the difficulty surrounding this question lies in the fact that “It” is shrouded in mystery for many Canadians.
What is “It”? Where did “It” come from? And why won’t “It” just leave us alone?
It’s time to expose the truth behind “It”. Because before we can say, “Get outta here, It,” we’re gonna need to know what we’re up against.
Backgrounder: “It’s” criminal history
“It’s” rap sheet is pretty long. “It” has committed too many crimes, in too many countries, to list them all in a short summary. So, we’ll only go over a selection of a few far-reaching crimes attributed to “It”, with a particular focus on Canada.
Initial devastation
At the beginning of “It”, there were an estimated 40 – 100 million Indigenous Peoples in North and South America. (1)
Denevan (1), who is on the low end of this scale with his 53.9 million estimate, calculates that between “It’s” arrival in the year 1492 and “It’s” continued presence until 1650, the population of the Americas dropped by 89%, to a mere 5.6 million.
Too often such numbers are read but not equated with real people, so let’s pause and consider this before moving on.
Almost 9 out of 10 Indigenous People, over two continents, died between 1492 and 1650.
If such a devastating population collapse happened in Canada today, we would fall from 34 to 3.7 million.
This is approximately the population of urban Montreal. (2)
Justifying theft of land
Now, shrewd readers will point out that 1650 is not 2013, and a lot of time has passed in between.
But “It” did not stop in 1650.
As more Europeans came to live in what would become Canada, “It” determined that more land needed to be cleared for settlement and economic development. (3) This led to a departure from the previous treaties of peace and friendship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers and towards a new relationship characterized by the lust for land.
Several excuses were created to cover up “It’s” lust for land. One of “It’s” first schemes was the Doctrine of Discovery. This clever Doctrine stated that European settlers of pre-Canada had a right to land because they were Christian. They were simply following Divine law, so they were blameless in stealing the homeland of another.
A second clever vindication that “It” created was the still-popular notion of terra nullius (‘no-man’s land’ in Latin). The theory of terra nullius has been very effectively spread and maintained in Canada.
Terra nullius is the rather perplexing assertion that since Indigenous Peoples did not have political organizations similar to those of Europeans, they could not exclude others from the areas that they owned – because according to European politics, they didn’t own anyarea. (Don’t worry if this bends your mind a little – it’s not supposed to make any logical sense.) The vast array of Indigenous laws were not similar enough to the laws of Europe to be of any value to anyone, and certainly not to the settlers who wished to trespass these laws.
Alongside this artful bit of paradox, “It” points out that according to terra nullius, the land was not even used by Indigenous Peoples. If they were simply on the land but not doing much with it, why should anyone consider the land to be theirs?
Now, “It” has done a canny cover-up here, hoping that “It’s” listeners will not look up the many ways that Indigenous Peoples transformed their landscapes to increase population size of animals and plants of a certain species, including through the act of intensive agriculture. I know that I do not need to list examples such as controlled burns, the growing of maize and tobacco, and the propagation of wild plants for you, because you’re inquisitive and ready to research this so that you get to the bottom of it.
However, unfortunately for us, “It” has made a trap for many people. “It” established a deep racism against Indigenous Peoples so that non-Indigenous Peoples would be more apt to believe discriminatory things about them, including that they – miraculously – did not use the land they lived and died on.
“It” started to spread propaganda that convinced many people that there existed a binary between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
This binary was Civilized and Savage.
CONTINUED IN PART 2: CIVILIZATION VERSUS SAVAGERY AND ASSIMILATION LEGISLATION BEGINS.
Sources
(1) Denevan, W. M. “The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82 (1992): 385-397. Web.
(2) “Census Profile.” Statistics Canada. 24 Oct, 2012. Web. 3 Feb 2013. <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=POPC&Code1=0547&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All>.
(3) Harris, Cole. “How did Colonialism Dispossess? Comments from an Edge of Empire.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94.1 (2004): 165-182. Print.
From: Colonial Realities: Exposing the mystery of “It” (Part 1).
What 400 ppm C02 Means
On May 2, after nightfall shut down photosynthesis for the day in Hawaii, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere touched 400 parts-per-million there for the first time in at least 800,000 years. Near the summit of volcanic Mauna Loa—where a member of the Keeling family has kept watch since 1958—sensors measured this record through sunrise the following day. Levels have continued to dance near that benchmark in recent days, registering above 400 ppm for the first time in eons after midnight on May 7. When the measurements started the daily average could be as low as 315 ppm, already up from a pre-industrial average of around 280 ppm.
This measurement is just the hourly average of CO2 levels high in the Hawaiian sky, but this family’s figures carry more weight than those made at other stations in the world as they have faithfully kept the longest record of atmospheric CO2. Arctic weather stations also hit the hourly 400 ppm mark last spring and this one. Regardless, the hourly levels at Mauna Loa will soon drop as spring kicks in across the northern hemisphere, trees budding forth an army of leaves hungrily sucking CO2 out of the sky.
Courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
It may be next year before the monthly average level reaches 400 ppm—and yet longer still until the annual average reaches that number.
But there is no question that the world continues to inexorably climb toward higher levels of greenhouse gas concentrations. Barring economic recessions, the world may be lucky to stop at 450, 500 or even beyond. Last year, humanity spewed some 36 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, up from 35 billion the year before.
In the coming year, Scientific American will run an occasional series, “400 ppm,” to examine what this invisible line in the sky means for the global climate, the planet and all the living things on it, including human civilization. Some scientists argue we passed the safe level for greenhouse gas concentrations long ago, pointing to the accelerating impacts, from extreme weather to the meltdown of Arctic sea ice. Others argue that we have yet more room to burn fossil fuels, clear forests and the like—but not much—before catastrophic climate change becomes inescapable. And the international community of nations has agreed that 450 ppm—linked to a rise of 2 degrees Celsius in global average temperatures—should not be exceeded. We are not on track to avoid that limit, whether you prefer the economic analysis of experts like the International Energy Agency or the steady monitoring of mechanical sensors.
The last time CO2 levels at Mauna Loa were this high, Homo sapiens did not live there. In fact, the last time CO2 levels are thought to have been this high was more than 2.5 million years ago, an era known as the Pliocene, when the Canadian Arctic boasted forests instead of icy wastes. The land bridge connecting North America and South America had recently formed. The globe’s temperature averaged about 3 degrees C warmer, and sea level lapped coasts 5 meters or more higher.
Courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The world will change again due to human activity and associated emissions of CO2, perhaps causing another set of coral reef extinctions like those found during the Pliocene, among other impacts. When Charles D. Keeling first started his measurements, CO2 made up some 317 ppm of the air we breathe and climate change was already a concern thanks to the work of John Tyndall, Svante Arrhenius and Guy Callendar. Every year since 1958 the sawtoothed line depicting Keeling’s measurements—readings kept up by his son Ralph—has climbed up, capturing the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations as well as the world’s breath.
Courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
What can be done? In the short term, more potent but shorter-lasting greenhouse gas emissions could be curbed or a concerted effort to develop CO2 capture and storage technology could be undertaken. Whether we do that or not, given CO2′s long lifetime in the atmosphere, the world will continue to warm to some extent; at least as much as the 0.8 degree C of warming to date is likely thanks to the CO2 already in the atmosphere.
At present pace, the world could reach 450 ppm in a few short decades. The record notches up another 2 ppm per year at present pace. Human civilization developed and flourished in a geologic era that never saw CO2 concentrations above 300 ppm.We are in novel territory again and we show no signs of slowing to get our bearings, let alone stopping.
From: http://nbharbinger.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/sciam-what-400ppm-c02-means/
Massive Safety Violations Revealed in Enbridge Pipelines
The biggest oil and gas pipeline company in Canada is breaking National Energy Board safety rules at 117 of its 125 pump stations across the country, but Enbridge says it’s not to blame.
Enbridge was ordered by the Canadian energy regulator to disclose whether or not it had backup power to operate emergency shut-down systems in the facilities that keep oil flowing through its pipes. The company told the NEB only eight of its pump stations complied with the board’s backup power system regulation.
On top of that, Enbridge disclosed that 83 of its pump stations were missing emergency shut-down buttons.
But the NEB admits that it has only just started to concentrate inspections on regulations covering backup power and shut-down systems. The regulations are anywhere from 14 to 19 years old.
“Enbridge would never knowingly operate outside of regulatory requirements. In fact, we do more than ask people to trust us, we say look at the evidence. We say look at our record, which is better than the industry average,” said Enbridge spokesperson Graham White.
He added that the minimum for Enbridge is compliance with NEB regulations, but said at the vast majority of facilities the company goes above and beyond.
In the case of backup power, that rule has been on the books since 1999. The emergency shut-down button has been a must since at least 1994.
White said Enbridge’s non-compliance is a problem of interpretation. He said that the NEB has changed the way it interprets the backup power regulation.
“We had an expectation that was indicated to us from previous inspections by the NEB, where these issues were not raised,” said White.
The problems with Enbridge’s pipeline safety came to light in 2011 during an NEB inspection of facilities on the company’s Line 9 pipeline between Sarnia, Ont., and Montreal and at its Edmonton terminal. Inspectors found that the terminals at Edmonton, Sarnia and Westover (near Hamilton, Ont.) and pump stations at Westover and Terrebonne (near Montreal) were missing emergency shut-down buttons. The pump stations were also missing backup power systems.
Once the discoveries were made about these stations and terminals, the NEB asked Enbridge for and received information about the rest of the pump stations in its Canadian system.
Enbridge has since installed emergency shut-down buttons at all 83 pump stations. It also has an NEB-approved plan to retrofit all 117 pump stations with backup power although no timeline has been made public for when facilities will be brought in line with regulations.
The NEB admits that it has only just switched the focus of its inspections to make these particular safety regulations a higher priority.
“The company is always at fault. The regulator’s purpose is to make sure the regulations are met,” said Iain Colquhoun, the NEB’s chief engineer. He went on to explain that, in the past, the NEB didn’t see the need to inspect backup power systems as a high-risk priority.
“So perhaps it has not got the attention that it has in the past. But now that it has got our attention, we absolutely require companies to have an auxiliary power unit [emergency backup power] that’s capable of closing down the station in an emergency,” said Colquhoun.
Enbridge said that it does have backup power systems but they use what is known as an uninterrupted power supply. Essentially, they are batteries that can keep the lights on but are not powerful enough to shut the valves that would stop the oil flowing in the event of a spill or other accident.
An auxiliary power unit — like a diesel generator — would be strong enough to return a pump station to a fail-safe condition. In the event of an external power failure, it would allow Enbridge to shut down a facility remotely from its operations centre in Edmonton. In the event that the operations centre couldn’t remotely shut down a pump station, a person should still be able to go out to a station, hit the emergency shutdown button and the auxiliary power unit would provide the power turn off the facility.
The problem for Enbridge is that the company does not have auxiliary power units at 117 of its 125 pump stations.
To outside observers, the safety situation at Enbridge is problematic for the regulator.
“From a public perspective, going this long never looks good. I mean that’s just common sense,” said Richard Kuprewicz, an independent pipeline safety engineer, based in Seattle, Wash. But Kuprewicz said it isn’t really the regulator’s fault.
“Not having the backup power supplies on pump stations if they’re required to have certain protections to kick in during a power failure is a very serious thing. And so that’s a more grievous issue and that needed to be addressed and should be, like basic pipeline 101,” Kuprewicz told CBC News.
From: http://nbharbinger.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/enbridge-safety-violations-in-pipeline/
Citizens and Cities Request Review of Eastern Pipeline
Citizens and Cities Request Review of Eastern Pipeline
MONTREAL — Several Ontario cities and more than a dozen environmental groups from Quebec, Ontario and the United States have asked the National Energy Board to expand its review of a proposal to reverse the flow in a pipeline between Montreal and Westover, Ont.
The environmental groups — including Greenpeace, Équiterre, Environmental Defence and the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council — want the federal agency to look at such issues as pipeline safety and the impact of a spill as part of its review of a $129-million project proposed by Enbridge.
Enbridge wants to reverse the flow in its Line 9B pipeline to ship oil from Western Canada and the U.S. to Montreal. It is also asking the NEB to increase the capacity of the pipeline and to allow it to carry heavy crude oil — diluted bitumen from oilsands operations.
Toronto, Kingston and Hamilton want the NEB to consider whether bitumen is more corrosive than other kinds of oil. They’ve also raised questions about who would pay the costs associated with an accident or spill. Toronto also asked the NEB to consider the accident report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board into a 2010 spill of bitumen from an Enbridge pipeline in Michigan. More than 3 million litres of bitumen were spilled, and Enbridge has spent more than $800 million on cleanup operations.
In February, the NEB published a list of issues it would consider in its review, including the need for the project, its potential environmental and socio-economic effects and emergency response planning. The NEB said it will “not consider the environmental and socio-economic effects associated with upstream activities, the development of the oilsands, or the downstream use of the oil transported by the pipeline.”
But the environmental groups say the NEB’s review is too limited. They say the agency must also consider the impact of oilsands development on greenhouse-gas emissions, what effect refining bitumen could have on air and water quality in Ontario and Quebec, and the potential impacts of an accident or spill of bitumen on waterways, tourism and outdoor recreation.
“This is a project that aims to expand oilsands operations,” said Patrick Bonin of Greenpeace. “If we don’t talk about that fact, and how it will affect Canada’s ability to reach its greenhouse-gas emissions targets, we’re missing a central part of the evaluation of this pipeline.”
The environmental groups say they believe Enbridge is reviving an abandoned project called Trailbreaker that would have shipped oil from Western Canada through Montreal to Portland, Maine and then on to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
“Canadian tarsands oil has always been destined for U.S. markets, and there are growing concerns from American communities about whether bringing more into the United States is really in the best interest from a climate perspective and a public-safety perspective,” said Danielle Droitsch, a senior attorney with the NRDC.
Enbridge has denied it is reviving Trailbreaker, but officials from the Portland-Montreal Pipelines Ltd., which operates a pipeline between Montreal and Portland, said it is interested in transporting western Canadian crude to the Eastern Seaboard.
