Earlier today, over at the Northern Public Affairs web site, I blogged about a recent (and controversial) decision made by the Yukon government about affordable housing in the Yukon. Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Very little affordable housing gets built in Canada without federal assistance. -Without
Continue readingTag: aboriginal peoples
Paul S. Graham: The Athabaska Oil Sands: Enough to make you sick. Real sick.
I don’t normally reprint news releases. This time I will make an exception. At the end of the news release are two videos I recorded earlier this year that speak to this issue. In the first, Dr. Stéphane McLachlan, of the Environmental Conservation Lab at the University of Manitoba, talks
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Impact of Fur Trade in U.S.
The fur trade in Canada is often said to have been less malign than in the US, and it was, but that doesn’t say much given the extraordinary disruption it is said to have createn in colonial America by the American historian Bernard Bailyn in his recent (2012) book, appropriately
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rental Housing in Yellowknife
Yesterday I blogged about rental housing in Yellowknife, over at the Northern Public Affairs web site. Specifically, I blogged about a recent announcement by the city’s largest for-profit landlord that it plans to “tighten” its policies vis-a-vis renting to recipients of “income assistance” (which, in most parts of Canada, is
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fur trade and tar sands
Here is Joseph Boyden talking with the Globe and Mail last fall about his novel Orenda: “You look at this novel and you think immigration, who you allow in and who you don’t. The Hurons allow in the ones who ulimately destroy them, because the Huron aren’t perfect either. They
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Warrior Up! The Mi’kmaq Struggle Against Fracking at Elsipogtog
Winnipeg, Feb. 17, 2014: Suzanne Patles of the Mi’kmaq Warriors Society, speaking at Thunderbird House. Photo: Paul S. Graham It is time to “warrior up” according to Suzanne Patles of the Mi’kmaq Warriors Society. She spoke at Thunderbird House in Winnipeg on Feb. 17, 2014 as part of a national
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: The Gift of Treaties
Winnipeg, Jan. 21, 2014: Niigaan James Sinclair, speaking at the “Gift of Treaties” teach-in organized by Idle No More Manitoba. Photo: Paul S. Graham A standard dictionary definition of the word “treaty” will describe it, rather drily, as a formal agreement between two or more states – an instrument of
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Thank you, Neil Young, for telling the truth
Filed under: Aboriginal Peoples, Environment, Nibbling on The Empire Tagged: aboriginal rights, Alberta oil sands, alberta tar sands, Neil Young
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Idle No More 2.0
Several hundred members and supporters of Idle No More gathered at the centre court of the Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg Friday evening to sing and to dance. Some are calling it Idle No More 2.0. Idle No More Manitoba spokesperson Michael Kannon explains why in this video report. Filed
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: The five main threats to Lake Winnipeg
October 26, 2013: Diane Orihel, founder and director of the Coalition to Save ELA, speaks to a workshop in Winnipeg on water quality sponsored by Idle No More Manitoba. Photo: Paul S. Graham Diane Orihel is a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta and the founder and Director of
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Fracking in Manitoba
Winnipeg, Oct. 26, 2013: Retired scientist Dennis Le Neveu spoke at a forum on the environmental hazards of fracking, sponsored by Idle No More Manitoba. Photo: Paul S. Graham Fracking is a process used to extract oil and natural gas. It involves drilling horizontal wells into rock formations and injecting
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: No Prairie Pipeline
TransCanada Pipelines’ proposed “Energy East” pipeline project, which is intended to transport Alberta tar sands crude to eastern Canada, is meeting growing opposition from First Nations, environmentalists and citizens who live along the planned route. The Winnipeg chapter of the Council of Canadians, along with Idle No More and the
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Winnipeg Jingle Dance: “We deserve to live!”
Winnipeg, Oct. 12, 2013: Jingle dancers ready themselves to welcome the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Photo: Paul S. Graham Winnipeg, Canada: Thousands gathered at the intersection of Portage and Main Street to welcome the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Professor James
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Speak Up For Democracy
October 8, 2013 – Green Party leader Elizabeth May, speaking at the Speak Up For Democracy Town Hall Meeting in Winnipeg. Photo: Paul S. Graham Canadian democracy ain’t what it used to be and what it used to be was far from ideal. Still, fewer of us are voting and
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Winnipeggers demand justice for missing and murdered aboriginal women
Oct. 4, 2013: Winnipeggers gathered at the Manitoba Legislature to remember the lives of 600 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada, 75 of whom came from Manitoba. Photo: Paul S. Graham Winnipeggers gathered at the Manitoba Legislature on Friday afternoon to demand an national inquiry into the causes for
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Prominent Canadians want Victoria Day renamed to honour Aboriginals
From Victoria Day to ‘Victoria and First People’s Day’. How does that sound? Prolific author Margaret Atwood, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, actor Gordon Pinsent and other prominent Canadians are demanding that “Victoria Day” be renamed “Victoria and First Peoples Day”. To honour Aboriginal peoples’ contributions to Canada. The group, which
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Walking for Mother Earth
Winnipeg, April 21, 2013: Some of the participants in the 10th annual Seventh Generation Walk for Mother Earth, at the Oodena Circle at The Forks. Photo: Paul S. Graham Despite the inclement weather, this year’s Seventh Generation Walk for Mother Earth was a lively celebration that began at Central Park
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: NDP Convention 2013: Resolution on Idle No More, Aboriginal Peoples
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: 5-05-13 Resolution on Idle No More, submitted by the Aboriginal Peoples Commission. WHEREAS years of inaction and broken promises from successive liberal and conservative government has led to severe social injustice and shocking poverty in too many communities WHEREAS as a consequence we are witnessing an historic and
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: First Nations, Environmentalists oppose HudBay Minerals’ Reed Lake Mine
April 4, 2013, Winnipeg: Opponents of the Reed Lake Mine in northern Manitoba confront HudBay Mineral’s officials. Photo: Paul S. Graham Opponents of Hudbay Mineral’s planned copper mine at Reed Lake, Manitoba held a peaceful demonstration at an information meeting held by the company at a Holiday Inn in Winnipeg.
Continue reading