RBC AGM Tar Sands Protest
Over 170 people gathered outside the Royal Bank of Canada’s Annual General Meeting on March 3rd to protest the bank’s leading role in funding the Alberta tar sands. People concerned with the impact of tar sands projects on First Nations, water quality and the climate came from all over the country to tell RBC to “stop bankrolling the tar sands.”
Shut Down the Tar Sands
Inside the shareholder meeting, First Nations Chiefs and community representatives from four different Nations demanded RBC phase out of its Tar Sands financing and to recognize the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities.
Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council of BC calls on RBC to recognize the right to free prior and informed consent.
Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation, Vice Chief Terry Teegee or the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation, and Gitz Crazyboy of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation addressed RBC CEO Gordon Nixon directly about the way tar sands extraction projects have jeopardized their health and their rights.
Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation says a prayer to start off the rally.
“RBC’s significant financial relationship with companies pursuing tar sands development activities within our traditional territory and without consent warrants close attention,” said Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation, “RBC should update their policies to include a recognition of Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities; this globally recognized concept was adopted by TD Bank Financial Group in 2007 and is endorsed by indigenous communities across the political spectrum.”
After the rally outside the RBC AGM, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet'suwe'ten First Nation leads the protesters in a march to RBC's headquarters.
“I pleaded with the board of directors,” said Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation about his experience inside the RBC shareholder meeting, “I pleaded with the president, with the CEO and the shareholders to seriously consider looking at exactly what the RBC is doing. And it’s an important message; pay attention to what’s happening with the investments and the lending circles that are created from the RBC - it’s destroying our planet! It’s destroying our planet’s ability to sustain us as human beings. And it will continue to do that. I fear that, if we continue allowing banks like RBC to continue what they’re doing, climate change is going to reach its tipping-point, if it hasn’t already.”
RBC Creates Profit from Climate Chaos
“We completely oppose the entire scope of the whole dig-up project,” said Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation, “we’re not just opposed to the tar sands, we’re opposed to the proposed tanker traffic on the coast, we’re opposed to pipelines, and we’re opposed to the proposed CN transportation of dirty oil from the tar sands to the coast of BC.”
Indigenous Rights Now!
“People in my community are getting sick, people are dying,” said Gitz Crazyboy from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, “we can’t drink the water, we used to about 10-15 years ago right out of the Athabasca River, no body wants to do that anymore … too many people are dying.”
Gitz Crazyboy from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation speaks to the crowd
“People in my community are getting pissed off,” continued Gitz Crazyboy, “we’re getting tired, we’re getting angry, we’re losing faith in the world around us. All of you people here have a responsibility as Canadian citizens, as human beings even, to try to help us out, for our voice to be heard, we haven’t been heard in the last 400 years!”
Free Prior and Informed Consent
According to Bloomberg, since 2007, RBC has backed $16.9 billion in loans to companies operating in the tar sands and has earned more than $132 million in underwriting fees. As a result, RBC has enabled the production of the world’s dirtiest oil.
RBC AGM Protest March
Oil extraction from the tar sands generates three times the CO2 emissions as conventionally extracted oil, and will soon make Canada the biggest contributer to global warming.
Indigenous Rights Now!!
Mining oil from tar sands requires churning up huge tracts of ancient boreal forest and polluting clean water with so much poisonous chemicals that the resulting waste ponds can be seen from outer space.
Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council speaking to the crowd.
The health impacts to Alberta’s First Nation communities are severe, with cancer rates up in some communities as much as 400 times its usual frequency. In addition, communities living near oil refineries face increased air and water pollution from tar sands oil, which contains 11 times more sulfur and nickel and five times more lead than conventional oil.
Dirty Oil
For more information on RBC and the tar sands, visit: Rainforest Action Network Toronto
Video of the protest coming soon…
Group Stages Mock Death Outside RBC Branches
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) organized a die-in outside two Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) branches to protest the bank’s involvement in the tar sands. The following text is from a press release put out by RAN:
Group Stages Mock Death Outside RBC Branches in Protest of Bank’s Involvement in Dirty Oil
Feigned Collapses Represent Real Impacts of Tar Sands Destruction and Water Pollution of First Nations Throughout Athabasca Delta
RBC Die-in
Toronto - Customers visiting RBC’s newly opened downtown banking centre today were met with the sight of motionless bodies strewn along the pavement in front of the bank entrance. The bodies were those of approximately 15 Rainforest Action Network (RAN) activists who, in protest against RBC’s continued financing of Alberta tar sands production, feigned death after symbolically drinking contaminated tar sands water.
RAN activists take a drink from the Athabasca water cooler.
Leading all other Canadian banks, over the past four years RBC has provided $8.9 billion in financial support to companies operating in the tar sands. The tar sands, which are devastating the regional environment, contaminating water sources, undermining local First Nation’s people’s health and preventing Canada from meeting its climate commitments, have become a source of global shame for Canada. RAN is asking RBC to cease financing tar sands production and instead, provide financing for the production of renewable energy.
Would you drinking water from the Athabasca River?
“RBC, as Canada’s largest bank, is positioned to lead the country towards a future of energy sustainability and environmental stewardship,” says RAN activist Kimia Ghomeshi. “Instead, RBC has chosen to become the ‘ATM’ for companies seeking financing for dirty tar sands production. I think RBC’s customers would like to know what their bank is doing with the money in their savings and chequing accounts.”
Kimia Ghomeshi describes the RBC as the "ATM for companies seeking financing for dirty tar sands production."
Tar sands projects, which extract and process bitumen, a type of crude oil, have become the leading cause of CO2 emissions growth in Canada. A water intensive process, production has resulted in the creation of over 130 km2 of toxic tailing ponds, which are now estimated to leak 11 million litres of polluted water into the Athabasca watershed daily. Downstream from the tar sands, a Government of Alberta health study has confirmed that First Nations’ communities are now experiencing elevated levels of rare cancers.
RBC Creates Climate Chaos
The protesters emphasized that RBC’s support of tar sands production is not consistent with its public commitments to leadership in the areas of corporate environmental sustainability and water conservation. As Melina Laboucan-Massimo, who is a member of the Lubicon Cree Nation, asked at the recent RBC annual shareholders meeting, “If RBC is serious about supporting clean water, why are they financing projects that are contaminating the lakes and rivers around my community?”
RBC Die-in
RBC’s “Create” PR campaign touts RBC’s environmental credentials. In one TV ad publicizing the RBC ’s Blue Water Project, we are asked to:
“Think of all the water in the world … oceans, rivers, lakes. It may seem like a lot but only a small fraction is fresh water, and there’s only so much to go around, which is why it is so important to protect it.”
In a November 2008 speech to an environmental group, CEO Gordon Nixon proclaimed that “water is the problem of the ages” and that “life depends on water. It’s high time we remembered that.”
"Life depends on water" - RBC CEO Gordon Nixon.
Yet, in contrast to the $3 million in donations under the Blue Water Project in 2008, RBC in the same year financed an estimated minimum of $641 million with oil and gas companies operating in the Alberta tar sands. An estimate of RBC’s total fossil fuel financing based on public records shows over $50 billion financed across all business lines in 2007 (see: www.climatefriendlybanking.org) And since 2002, RBC has directly invested over $63 billion in tar sands companies such as Encana, Suncor, and Canadian Natural Resources.
Drinking from the Athabasca Water Cooler
According to industry information, toxic lakes in the tar sands stretching over 50 km leak over 11 million litres a day of contaminated water into the environment. First Nations downstream are growing increasingly concerned about water quality and elevated cancer levels and have sued the Province of Alberta over adverse environmental impacts. Tar sands are also Canada’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas pollution. (more at: www.ran.org/tarsands)
RBC Die-in
RBC Die-in
RBC Die-in
RBC Die-in
RBC Die-in
RBC Die-in
For more information:
Global Day of Action Against Open Pit Mining
Solidarity protests were held in Toronto and Montreal in Canada, in Melbourne, Canberra and Newcastle in Australia, as well as in Bankok, Thailand, and Mexico City, Mexico, as part of the Global Day of Action Against Open-Pit Mining. These protests targeted Canadian Embassies, specific mining companies’ offices, as well as the Toronto Stock Exchange, to show their solidarity with communities around the world that have been impacted by Canadian mining projects.
The following images are from the protest outside the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the text is from the information handouts that participants were handing out to passers by:
Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil, and See No Evil at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
“The Canadian economy funds projects to the shame of each Canadian. There are no human rights requirements to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Canadian government supports these companies even as human rights workers are killed and communities poisioned. Canada is getting a bad name from these widespread human and environmental catastrophes.”
The colorful group of protesters engaged the rush-hour traffic passing by in discussions to let them know about the increasingly negative reputation Canada is getting around the world because of the actions of Canadian mining companies.
Some of the cases the protesters highlighted from around the world included:
The Philippines
“Political killings of left-leaning activists, clergy and journalists in the Philippines have been escalating steadily under the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and have been linked to open criticism of large-scale mining in the Philippines. The human-rights group Karapatan estimates that over one thousand activists have been killed since Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001. Nearly all of the cases remain unresolved.”
We Resist Canadian Mining -- A message of support for the Global Day of Resistance Against Open-pit Mining from Timuay Boy Anoy, the traditional chieftain of the Subanon land in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte where TVI Pacific is operating a large scale open pit mine in the Philippines.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
“Eight Canadian mining companies have been called to account for commercial activities that have contributed to conflict in the war-torn country. It is estimated that 3-5 million people have died in the Congo in recent years due to the war. Moreover, Canadian companies have been implicated in providing logistical support to the Congolese Armed Forces.”
Congo bribes
Trust me with your money, says the corporate clown.
Burma
“The largest single mining investment in Burma, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., is a company registered in the Yukon to take advantage of Canada’s generous tax breaks for foreign exploration and development. Neither the mining industry itself, the Canadian stock exchanges, nor the laws governing corporations in Canada, currently provide any safeguards against the impacts of irresponsible mining on communities and the environment in conflict-torn countries like Burma. Reports from people in the area indicate severe environmental damage and the use of forced labour in building roads to the mine.”
Handing over some information to workers inside the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Ecuador
The Canadian junior mining company Copper Mesa is currently facing litigation for perpetuating human rights abuses by hiring paramilitary to intimidate local farmers and indigenous peoples who opposed mineral exploration of their lands. The TSX is also named in the suit and is currently being sued for $3 billion for allowing Copper Mesa to raise funds on the exchange despite prior knowledge of Copper Mesa’s human rights violations in Ecuador.
See no evil at the Toronto Stock Exchange
Honduras
“Canada is the only nation to support the recent coup by Honduras military. President Zelaya had proposed nationalizing mineral resources in his country, a position extremely unpopular with Canadian mining interests in the country. The Canadian company Goldcorp, has been linked to human rights abuses and ecological destruction in the country. Goldcorp has received nearly one billion dollars from Canadian Pension Plan subsidies. ”
Stop Goldcorp's repression in Central America.
Papua New Guinea
“Allegations of rapes, beatings and killings of community members by Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) security forces have been prevalent for at least a decade. In April, 2009 security forces burned the 300 houses of local indigenous peoples to the ground – these villagers have claimed these lands as traditional territory and were not consulted properly about mining development. Moreover, The PJV mine empties millions of tons of tailings directly into the nearby 800 km-long river system. Norway’s Government Pension Fund has dropped its shares in Canada’s Barrick Gold as a result of Barrick’s waste disposal practices at Porgera.”
This is happening right now in Papua New Guinea
Canada
“Mining in Canada has faced increased resistance from communities in Canada, particularity from First Peoples who have witnessed the destruction of their lands and culture with mining development. In particular, tar sands developments have created the largest ecological disaster on earth.”
Uranium too hot to handle ... in cottage country
Ramara & Kawartha Lakes (Ontario) Against Mining
Mining our planet is for once only, toxic tailing ponds leak for ever.
Meanwhile in Mexico City, activists are marking the first Global Day of Action Against Open-Pit mining with a 36-hour sit-in outside the Canadian Embassy building in Mexico City.
“The sit-in is a nonviolent protest to demand that the Canadian government intervene in the case of New Gold’s Cerro de San Pedro mine”, said FAO member Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara. “The mine is still operating despite having lost its environmental permit in a recent court ruling. We are reminding the embassy that we will continue to raise our voices against corruption, human rights abuses and environmental destruction”.
Capital Rule$ - TSX, CPP, and EDC fund Destruction
"Hey wanna make some money?" Asks the corporate clown, "invest in my mining company and we'll all be rich! Rich! They don't even have rules for us, so we can get away with anything!" It's Awesome!!"
"I believe in the Harper dollar!" says the corporate clown
Trust me with your money
The colorful group of protesters engaged the rush-hour traffic passing by in discussions to let them know about the increasingly negative reputation Canada is getting around the world because of the actions of Canadian mining companies.
"Mining gold is completely unecessary!" says the toxic bride sitting on a pile of toxic waste. "80% of newly mined gold is used for jewelry!"
"But I have never seen any evidence"
no comment
"But no one ever told me"
Learn More from Organizations in Support:
photojournalist Alex Felipe
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre, Philippines
Frente Amplio Opositor, Mexico
Timuay Anoy and the Subanon indigenous communities, Philippines
Toronto Housing Crisis
The City of Toronto is struggling to cope with an ongoing housing crisis, according to The Toronto Report Card on Housing and Homelessness published by the City of Toronto. The study on housing in Toronto reveals that 550,000 people here are living in poverty — that’s roughly 25% of the city’s population. With few options available to them, thousands of these people are finding themselves living on the streets where, in 2002, thirty-two-thousand different people stayed in Toronto’s emergency shelters — 4,779 of these were children. Add to this the fact that well over five hundred men, women, and children have died on the streets as a direct result of homelessness. With the financial crisis being felt all around the world, there are no indications that the situation is any better today. For one of the wealthiest cities in the world, how can this be allowed to happen?
The following photos tell the stories of a few of the people who have found themselves losing control over their lives, living in government housing or on the streets, as well as the stories of how some people are raising questions about the City’s priorities and looking for solutions themselves.
"My name is Chris, I've been sitting in the rain here for three hours." Chris has been living on the streets for two years since loosing his job after injuring his back. He worked as a furniture mover, but because his employment was "under the table," he is not eligible for workers compensation. Because of his back injury he is unable to find work and has to live on the streets and pan-handle to get by. "If I had any other option, I wouldn't be sitting in the rain at night in the winter."
S.T. (who asked me not to use his real name) has been on disabilities since he was 18 years old for his heart problems, weight problems and breathing problems. He uses an old respirator here to catch his breath after climbing the stairs to get to his small apartment. Because of his health problems, he is unable to find employment “I would love to get a job and everything else, but I am not capable because of the sickness in my body and people don’t understand that.” The small amount he does get from disabilities is just enough to cover the rent for his room, but after paying his rent he is left with just $250 a month to survive on. Most of this $250 has to cover his hydro bills and whatever is left goes to food, as a result he often has to turn to the streets to panhandle for enough money to put food in his fridge.
S.T. looks in his empty fridge. After paying his rent, there is very little left over to spend on food and other necessities. “How can a person survive on $250 a month with the cost of living in Toronto? And every year the rent goes up!” S.T. asks. “But I’m not the only one. There are hundreds of other people out there like me going through the same thing. I know a lot of people who get disability and have to pay high rent and do the same thing I’m doing. But I believe that if enough people speak out like I do, housing will definitely come down in price. Something just has to be done. There should be more low-income housing, the rent in Toronto shouldn’t be as high as it is; people like me don’t deserve this.”
Social justice groups are describing the City of Toronto itself as the worst landlord in Toronto, highlighting the deplorable living conditions in Toronto Community Housing buildings.
A delegation of government housing tenants along with members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) came together to attend the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) board of directors meeting. Their goal was for tenants to voice their complaints directly to the board of directors regarding the deplorable living conditions in government housing. They brought with them a compilation of about fifty reports on the conditions in different tenant’s homes.
“We have a situation”, said one delegate, “where people have lived in public housing for a very long time in totally unacceptable conditions. What we now have is a crisis of deterioration which is reaching the level where units are crumbling, where buildings are in massive disrepair, and we’re going to see a situation where … public housing in this city is going to be lost if there is no intervention … the city of Toronto is the landlord, and the landlord is responsible for maintaining the property. And if the city needs to change its funding priorities to insure that enough municipal money goes to do the job, then that’s what must be done.”
Val is a tenant of the Toronto Community Housing. Val has lived in government housing for 19 years. Over this period, she says, conditions have steadily gotten worse and worse. This is Val's apartment, where she has baskets and carpets tacked onto the walls to hide the crumbling paint. She describes herself, with a dry sense of humour, as the curator of the 'Tack Art Gallery.'
This is Val's bedroom, where she has baskets and carpets tacked onto the walls to hide the crumbling paint. The whole building is in terrible condition, there are holes in the ceilings, plaster walls are crumbling, carpets are stained and moldy, garbage collects in the halls, and the building is infested with vermin. Val says she does not feel safe in the building as there have been a number of shootings and recently a woman was raped in the laundry room.
M.L (who asked me not to use her real name) is a tenant of the Toronto Community Housing. M.L. is well educated and has a professional background but is now disabled and has arthritis, she is in constant pain despite being on numerous medications and painkillers. As a result, she is unable to find employment and is now completely dependent on community housing for her survival. "As bad as it is here,” she says, “the only other option for me is the street - I’d die."
M.L.'s balcony is completely infested by Pigeons. It is completely covered with eggs, feathers, and feces. There are baby pigeons nesting there and countless eggs, both hatched and unhatched. The TCHC has told her to clean it up herself, but she not physically able to because of her health problems."I just want to be able to grow a little garden out there," she says holding back tears of frustration, "I've tried cleaning it up myself but I break down in pain every time and they just keep coming back! I don't know what to do."
Many of the tennants in this Toronto Community Housing building have taped up the cracks around their doorways to prevent mice and bugs from entering their apartments.
Barbara is another tenant of Toronto Community Housing. After growing up in Jamaica, where she was friends with Bob Marley, Barbara moved to Canada and started a promising career in early childhood development. But Barbara lost the job she loved when Mike Harris’ government cut funding for a wide range of social programs. Barbara managed to find a job working in a big chain grocery store where she injured her back lifting boxes. Because of this injury, and the resulting health problems, she is unable to find employment now and has had to move her entire life and all her belongings into this one room apartment. For years now she has been fighting with Toronto Community Housing to have her transferred to another apartment where she can actually fit all her belongings, but the waiting list for community housing in Toronto currently stands at an astonishing 70 000 and many people have been waiting for decades.
The Church of the Holy Trinity and the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee have put together a Homeless Memorial board outside the church, which is right next to the Eaton’s Centre shopping mall.
The Mission Statement of the Toronto Homeless Memorial is: “We remember all those homeless people who have lived in the streets of Toronto, and died as a direct result of homelessness.”
Since the memorial was first put up in October 2000, the list has steadily grown to over 500 names.
Nancy Baker at the Homeless Memorial at the Church of the Holy Trinity near the Eaton Centre. Here she sits in front of a sign that reminds us that that we best not forget that any one of us could find ourselves loosing control over our lives. Her boyfriend was one of the hundreds of people who have died on the streets of Toronto.
Members and supporters of the Women Against Poverty Coalition (WAPC) leave flowers just outside the entrance to the Yonge-Bloor subway station in the memory of 33-year-old Bly Markis. Bly was brutally beaten and killed nearby. Bly had worked as a massage therapist in California before moving back home to Toronto. Back in Toronto, she was unable to get the proper paperwork together to allow her to continue her profession. With mounting personal and professional problems, Bly found herself living on the streets where she eventually met her killer. Bly, affectionately known as "California," was well-known and well-liked in the community and was working hard to put her life back together.
Candles are lit in the memory of those who have died on the streets of Toronto.
You can see the full list of 500+ names of the men, women, and children who have died on the streets of Toronto here
(note: this list was last updated in June 2008 the numbers now are closer to 550+)
About 20 to 30 people spent the night on the doorsteps of Toronto's City Hall in solidarity with the homeless men, women, and children across the city. Participants were demanding that the City make a clear plan to end the housing crisis in Toronto.
Toronto is in the throes of an affordable housing crisis that has seen thousands of citizens made homeless…. Property that could house people is going to waste.
When communities assert a collective right to their own neighbourhoods, municipal policy should support them, not oppose them.” - Abandonment Issues
Abandonment Issues is a Toronto-based coalition of housing activists fighting to get abandoned and underutilized buildings and spaces in the city turned into affordable housing. Abandonment Issues has drafted a Use It or Lose It bylaw that lays out the framework for implementing this goal.
After being turned away by Police for trying to break into the abandoned building behind him, an anti-poverty activist shouts out to the crowd surrounding this abandoned building. Organised by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), housing activists attempted to enter abandoned buildings in Toronto in order to convert them into affordable housing to alleviate the growing housing problem in the city. They were met with resistance from dozens of Police officers who were under strict orders to defend these abandoned buildings, located in the wealthy High Park neighborhood.
These housing activists were were met with resistance from dozens of Police officers who were under strict orders to defend these abandoned properties located in the wealthy High Park neighborhood. Tempers flared on both sides and many of the participants accused the police of being overly aggressive. Some of the demonstrators pointed out the irony of the fact that their tax dollars were being used to pay police forces to "protect" these abandoned buildings, rather than on providing viable alternatives for poor people living on the streets.
after forcing anti-poverty activists away from this abandoned building, police officers stand guard to keep the activists away.
after being forced away from the abandoned buildings by police the anti-poverty activists marched to Mayor David Miller's residence nearby. Here, they are gathered on Miller's doorstep shouting angrily about the Mayor's lack of interest in alleviating the growing housing problems in Toronto.
The Women Against Poverty Collective (WAPC) organized a housing takeover of an abandoned building in downtown Toronto. WAPC is a group of women and trans people who are working together to advocate for safe, affordable and accessible housing for women experiencing violence. A small group of women broke into the building before demonstrations began, and before police could find out which building would be targeted. Police surrounded the building with the women inside. “We’ve learned through history that sometimes we don’t get anything unless we struggle and demand to get it,” says Anna Willats of WAPC, "(today) we will create our own housing. Housing that is controlled by us, for us, that is safe and accessible.” Willats explains that the building being taken over is one of hundreds of buildings in downtown Toronto that have been sitting empty and unused for years.
With the police surrounding the four women inside, demonstrators gathered outside the building, surrounding the police, in solidarity with the women inside. Demonstrators set up tents in front of the house and in the park across the street prepared to camp out there as long as it took for the police to back down and allow the women to begin setting up the building as a safe house for disadvantaged women and trans people.
As the tension mounted down below, Jenn Plyler, one of the women inside the building, led the chants "Housing for women by women now! Housing for women by women now!"
Later in the evening, waiting for the rain to come pouring down (making it very difficult to document), the police decided to make their move. They surrounded the demonstrators, trampled over the tents, and began forcing the demonstrators back away from the building. During the scuffle, one officer can be seen here attempting to restrain a colleague who is getting overly aggressive.
Despite the surprise move by the police, demonstrators refused to back down, linking arms and responding to the police with songs and chants. After the initial struggle, rows of police and demonstrators squared off in the middle of the street staring each other down, waiting for someone to make the next move.
As the rain continued to pour down, rows of police and demonstrators squared off in the middle of the street. Both sides can be seen here taunting one another.
With over 500 homeless people dying on the streets of Toronto since 1989, housing activists accross the city are calling on the City of Toronto to make use of the hundreds of abandoned buildings scattered accross the city so they can be converted into safe and affordable housing for the poor.
To learn more, visit:
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Pride Week
Pride Parade
This is Pride Week in Toronto so I have just added a new gallery of my photos from the Pride Parades from 2008 and 2007.
Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Peru
A protest was held outside th Peruvian Consulate in Toronto where about thiry people came to show their solidarity with the indigenous peoples in Peru.
Stop Killing Peru's Indigenous Peoples
The following letter was delivered to the Consul General of the Republic of Peru by the Latin American Solidarity Network - Toronto:
Toronto, June 10, 2009
Gabriel Garcia Pike, Consul General of the Republic of Peru
10 St. Mary Street, #301
Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 1P9
Dear Sir,
The Latin American Solidarity Network of Toronto conveys to you its most emphatic protest against the unjustified massacre carried out by your country’s repressive forces on June 5 against the aboriginal people of Abya Yala in Peru’s Amazon Region.
We have learned that Peru’s security forces, sent to break up a peaceful demonstration by indigenous people, murdered at least 28 of them. The Natives were striving to preserve their ancestral territories from seizure by transnational corporations…
Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Peru
Given the gravity of these developments, the Latin American Solidarity Network requests that you transmit to your government the following demands:
1. The national government must withdraw its military forces from Native territory.
2. The civil and military authorities responsible for this massacre must be prosecuted.
3. Peru’s Amazon territories must be preserved as a natural sanctuary, free of interference by transnational corporations who seek only to maximize their gain at the cost of the destruction of nature.
4. The fundamental cause of the Native protests is the increasingly damaging effects of Peru’s free trade agreements with Canada and the US on the economy, lives, and culture of the indigenous peoples. These treaties should be canceled.
We thank you for conveying to your government this indignant protest.
Yours truly,
Carlos Torchia, Coordinator
Latin American Solidarity Network - Toronto
contace: ctorchia39(a)aol(dot)com
The two delegates from the Latin American Solidarity Network were refused entry into the Peruvian Consulate, who also refused to send anyone down to meet with the protesters. One RCMP officer agreed to deliver the letter personally.
The following photos were taken on May 22nd, 2009, in New York City at a similar protest outside the Peruvian Mission in NYC.
Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Peru
Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Peru
Ben Powless reporting directly from Peru.
Another Day in the Life of Peru and Canada by Bob Lovelace
Police Violently Attack Peaceful Indigenous Blockade in Peru
For more background information:
For something you can do right now:
George W Bush in Toronto
George W Bush is speaking at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre today. Protesters will be gathering outside.
BushTV
In a letter to Prime Minister Steven Harper, Lawyers Against the War insist that Bush either be barred from the country or charged with war crimes upon arrival.
A few exerpts:
Dear Prime Minister,
…
We write to advise you of your duty to immediately take all necessary steps to prevent George W. Bush from entering Canada, in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), s. 35 (1) (a).
If George W. Bush enters Canada we demand that he be arrested, as being inadmissible under the IRPA and as a person suspected of torture, and then either prosecuted in Canada for torture or extradited to another country that is willing and able to prosecute as required by the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 7 (CAT).
Close Guantanamo
We remind you that the failure to take one of these actions violates Canada’s international law obligations. In addition such inaction denies remedies to victims, ensures impunity for perpetrators and encourages other instances of torture. For example, reports released this month conclude that torture and abuse of prisoners in Iraq remains “routine and commonplace.” (Iraq Ministry of Human Rights and Human Rights Watch)
George W. Bush stands accused of authoring, supervising and directing the most egregious war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, during his eight year term as President and Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. As such he is inadmissible to Canada under the ‘Human Rights and International Law Violations’ sections of the ‘Inadmissibility Division’ of the IRPA.
BushTV
Inadmissibility under the IRPA, s. 35(1)(a) is established when there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the person seeking to enter Canada has been involved directly or indirectly in one or more of the impugned acts, namely gross human rights violations, war crimes or crimes against humanity. Torture is a war crime, a crime against humanity and a gross violation of non-derogable rights. The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted reasonable grounds as ‘something more than a suspicion and less that proof to the balance of probabilities.’ Evidence of Bush’s involvement in authorizing widespread, long term and brutal torture far exceeds the ‘reasonable grounds’ test.
Evidence that U.S. officials tortured — sometimes to death — prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and Bagram prison, already overwhelming, continues to mount. Human rights and legal advocates around the world are unanimous in citing the legal duty under CAT to prosecute Bush and other senior members of the Bush administration. An Appendix to this letter lists some of the evidence of Bush involvement in torture.
Burning Bush
Read the Lawyers Against the War letter in full at www.rabble.ca
