This is an Information Page in Support of The Muskrat Falls Civil Rights Movement: non-divisive, non-violent, peaceful civil disobedience, direct action against the Boondoggle ill-conceived Muskrat Falls project, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
If you may be interested in Joining or Contacting our Movement please use the following:
CONTACT DETAILS
"Homes not Bombs"
PO Box 2121, 57 Foster Street,
Perth, Ontario K7H 1R0
Tel: (613) 267-3998
Website: http://homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2018/05/grade-10-mississauga-students-support.html Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition
(Older posts up to 2007 are still available on... http://www.homesnotbombs.ca)
This is also the address used by the Ontario Muskrat Solidarity Committee, Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, and Country Music Fans Against War
(If you would like to support us by helping us meet the ongoing costs of our work, you can mail a cheque made out to Homes not Bombs and send to the above address. Much appreciated!)"
@RobFramBen Roberta Benefiel [top] and @amybeatrice Amy Norman, Labrador Land Protectors #ShutMuskratDown speaking at a number of events in New England to educate end-users of Muskrat Falls power of the controversy around the project. The Labradorian Labrador Land Protectors taking part in Muskrat Falls rallies across country on May 7 2018
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/one-raging-grannies-ottawa-loris-jordan-92-years-dr-pritchard-ma/?published=t One of the Raging Grannies of Ottawa: Loris Jordan 92 Years [@peterstockdale Peace Addict] [@AndersenAngus] Reports Updates Videos [see below] from Muskrat Falls National Day of Action: 7 May 2018 - 15 Indigenous Land Protectors and Allies Arrested Ottawa Canada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwbxgQ8t2wA The Day Begins at the Human Rights Monument
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwRdRZ6eWCY The Day Continues at the Prime Minister's office, rudely booting out Land Protectors, who nonetheless persevered in delivering methylmercury water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GEeFeV5Kig Once on the Hill, the Labrador Land Protectors speak truth to three Parliamentary Secretaries – from the ministries of Stolen Resources, Colonial Affairs, and Ocean Pollution. They then try to enter the House of Commons and are placed under arrest, with an Indigenous woman, Marjorie Flowers, the only one targeted for differential treatment: being painfully handcuffed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DLxslhcdso Following their release – all were banned from Parliament Hill for 90 days, even though the group rejected colonial jurisdiction, having sought and received the support of title holders from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake – they reflect on the day, and remind all that they never gave free, prior and informed consent for the Muskrat Falls megadam.
[OTTAWA VIDEOS thanks to Anne Dagenais Guertin of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group for your videography!]
Emera See the Faces, Hear the Voices at Risk From Muskrat Falls Ontario-Muskrat Falls Coalition 24 May 2018
https://goo.gl/C22Qk3 Toronto, Canada, World: “See The Faces Hear The Voices at Risk” from Lower Churchill Muskrat Falls Boondoggle Hydro project Join Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition Council of Canadians Labrador Land Protectors 24 May 1-2:30 pm Glenn Gould Studio CBC 250 Front St West, Toronto
Muskrat Falls Highly Dangerous hydroelectric project The Telegram 28 May 2018
Place: Ottawa Vigil at Office of Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Time: Afternoon
https://www.facebook.com/events/173746446672100/
May 28 will mark almost 14 months since Canada signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a legally binding treaty negotiated under the United Nations Environment Programme to reduce mercury emissions and to protect the environment and human health. McKenna says, "Our Government is unwavering in its commitment to safeguard the environment and the health of Canadians from the effects of mercury."
Yet the Convention is being violated at Muskrat Falls, where the Trudeau government's $9.2 billion investment in Muskrat Falls guarantees a massive spike in methylmercury poisoning. The Convention Canada signed on to is clear in recognizing "the particular vulnerabilities of Arctic ecosystems and indigenous communities because of the biomagnification of mercury and contamination of traditional foods, and concerned about indigenous communities more generally with respect to the effects of mercury."
The Minamata Convention is a 21st century response to the catastrophic pollution in Minamata, Japan, where industrial releases of methyl mercury caused the epidemic known as the Minamata disease in the 1950s and onwards.
https://goo.gl/1hTLrg “Muskrat Falls protest planned for Monday in Ottawa
On Monday afternoon, supporters of the Labrador Land Protectors are gathering at environment minister Catherine McKenna’s office to protest the Muskrat Falls project.
They’ll bring with them bottles of “symbolic methylmercury-contaminated water” and ask the minister if she would drink it.
The demonstration is organized by the Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition.
In a written statement, the group wrote that they are demonstrating to contrast McKenna’s support for the Minamata Convention on Mercury “while the Liberal-supported Muskrat Falls Megadam threatens Indigenous people in Labrador with Methylmercury Poisoning.”
Canada ratified the Minamata Convention – a global treaty to reduce mercury emissions and to protect the environment and human health – in April.
Group spokesperson Matthew Behrens was quoted in the statement saying the group demands that McKenna take the Minamata Convention seriously “and take a stand against the methylmercury poisoning of people downstream of Muskrat Falls.”
"She must put her words into action, and compel her government to withdraw its $9.2 billion investment in Muskrat Falls unless there is 100% proof that no methylmercury poisoning will occur if the dam goes online.”
Monday’s demonstration takes place three weeks after members of Labrador Land Protectors were arrested on Parliament Hill while attempting to go into the House of Commons with pictures of people, mostly children, whose lives they say are at most risk of methylmercury poisoning.” The Telegram 28 May 2018
21 JUNE - 22 SEPTEMBER 2018
Muskrat Falls Solidarity Chain Fast
“Stop the Poisoning and Drowning of Labrador’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous People at Muskrat Falls
Caring for our Next Generation, Baby in Arms [The Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition]
Background
The Trudeau government has invested a whopping $9.2 billion into the lethal Muskrat Falls megadam in Labrador, which threatens an act of cultural genocide via methylmercury poisoning and the subsequent destruction of Indigenous cultures that have existed since time immemorial.
An additional threat is catastrophic dam break. Mass casualty flash floods are a real possibility since a significant portion of the dam reservoir is slated to be held back by a natural formation known as the North Spur, composed of quick clay (sand that liquefies and moves under pressure). No proper, independent engineering study has been performed to confirm the stability of the North Spur.
Like any number of megaprojects, all Indigenous people affected have not provided free, prior and informed consent to be poisoned and drowned by this megadam. Non-Indigenous residents also face similar threats from a project that could eventually cost as much as $78 billion and bankrupt the province.
Caring for our Next Generation, Child with Flag of Labrador, The Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition
Why We’re Fasting
To continue raising awareness and building resistance to the dangerous Muskrat Falls project, we will fast for one or more days during the months between summer solstice and fall equinox in support of the Labrador Land Protectors and all those living at risk downstream of the Muskrat Falls megadam.
We fast because we recognize that if Muskrat Falls goes online without any changes, the largely Indigenous downstream population will be faced with either going hungry or eating a country food web dangerously poisoned by the neurotoxin methylmercury.
We fast because we recognize the hungering for justice of people who have never been properly consulted about a project that threatens their lives.
We fast because we recognize that all of us undertaking small sacrifices together can help awaken the sleeping conscience of a country that has yet to take seriously the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the cornerstone principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The fast will continue from June 21 to September 22 with three demands:
1. Immediate implementation of the original recommendations from a major 2016 Harvard University study (seconded by an Independent Experts Advisory Committee) for full clearance of brush, trees, and topsoil, along with the capping of the wetlands, at the Muskrat Falls reservoir to prevent the bioaccumulation of the neurotoxin methylmercury.
2. Immediate appointment of an independent inquiry into the instability of the North Spur, because no study has proven that it is secure enough to prevent a catastrophic dam break and mass drowning.
3. The federal government, provincial government, and Nalcor (the crown corporation behind the dam) must halt all work on the dam until they have received the free, prior and informed consent of all Indigenous peoples affected by the dam, as well as that of non-Indigenous downstream residents.
How to participate in the Chain Fast
Pick a day (or a series of days) to fast throughout the summer season and email your name and town to tasc@web.ca) A list of open dates is at http://homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2018/05/muskrat-falls-solidarity-chain-fast.html .
Fast according to your preferred tradition (a full 24 hours, liquids only, sunup to sundown).
The fast is open to anyone (you can join even if you are not living in the land known as Canada)
On the day they fast we encourage you to:
a. take a selfie with a simple message (ie, #ShutMuskratDown, Stop Poisoning of Labrador, Respect Indigenous Rights, etc) and share that image via social media, explaining why you are fasting on that day
b. Write an email to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Stolen Resources Minister Jim Carr, and Colonial Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett federally, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball and Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall (the crown corporation behind the project), to explain why you are fasting and reinforce the three demands listed above. Emails are: pm@pm.gc.ca, Catherine.McKenna@parl.gc.ca, Jim.Carr@parl.gc.ca, carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca, dwightball@gov.nl.ca, info@nalcorenergy.com, tasc@web.ca
c. Write a letter to a local newspaper about why they are fasting, and perhaps link your fast to land and water protection struggles taking place in your territory.
d. If you have the time, make a sign and vigil for an hour or two in public at a federal building or MP’s office to mark your fast and the reasons behind it (we can provide flyers to hand out).
Thanks for your support!
The Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition”
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[https://goo.gl/VzfLEH UPDATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR: Muskrat Falls Solidarity Chain Fast 21 June - 22 September 2018]
IN SUPPORT:
Dr. Pam Palmater
"Conflict is coming. There is no getting around that fact. Anyone who believes that reconciliation will be about blanket exercises, cultural awareness training, visiting a native exhibit at a museum or hanging native artwork in public office buildings doesn’t understand how we got here. Reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples has never been about multiculturalism, diversity or inclusion. Reconciliation is not an affirmative-action program, nor is it about adding token Indigenous peoples to committees, advisory groups or board rooms. We cannot tokenize our way out of this mess that Canada created. Real reconciliation requires truth be exposed, justice be done to make amends and then Canada’s discriminatory laws, policies, practices and societal norms be reconciled with Indigenous rights, title, treaties, laws and jurisdiction. That process of truth, justice and reconciliation will be painful. It requires a radical change. Nothing less than the transfer of land, wealth and power to Indigenous peoples will set things right. The true test of reconciliation will be whether Canada respects the Indigenous right to say ‘no.’" https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/true-test-of-reconciliation-respect-the-indigenous-right-to-say-no "True test of reconciliation: respect the Indigenous right to say No" Dr Pam Palmater “Indigenous Politics” 15 May2018
Justine Brake @JustinBrakeNews fighting for Press Freedom 28 March 2018
https://labradorleadstheworld.blogspot.com Labrador Leads the World in Opposition to Hydro Dams - Please Join Online @protectlabrador our Global Campaign to Protect Labrador against Government of Canada's Nalcor Crown Corporation Boondoggle MegaDam MegaDamage Muskrat Falls project, Nunatsiavut, Newfoundland and Labrador
HELPING OUT
1. Join the Ontario-Muskrat Solidarity Coalition at tasc@web.ca or (613) 267-3998
2. Like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioMuskrat/
3. Like the Facebook page of the Labrador Land Protectors at https://www.facebook.com/labradorlandprotectors/
4. Connect with the Grand RiverKeeper Inc. “Protecting Our River” http://www.grandriverkeeperlabrador.ca Website
@RobFramBen Twitter
5. You can help contribute to our costs by writing cheques to Homes not Bombs at PO Box 2121, 57 Foster Street, Perth, ON K7H 1R0, or sending e-transfers to tasc@web.ca
6. The Labrador Land Protectors Crowdfunding page: https://fundrazr.com/labradorlandprotectors?ref=ab_7qouMLcCfNG7qouMLcCfNG Labrador Land Protectors @protectlabrador Crowdfunding for our legal fees can be found here #ShutMuskratDown 2 Sep 2017
7. Share this information with friends!
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[https://goo.gl/V8nfDs UPDATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR: The Labrador Land Protectors Grand RiverKeeper Civil Rights Movement: non-divisive, non-violent, peaceful civil disobedience, direct action against the Boondoggle ill-conceived Muskrat Falls project, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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