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occupy oppression: safety, inclusion & sexual violence

focus on the extractive industries: militarization, resistance & economic risk

Harper Cons push new anti-refugee bill, cut funding for enviros

2 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80I! R"#$"%

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In !is Issue:ORIGINAL PEOPLESPacific Trails Pipeline and Taseko Mines Kicked Out of Native Land

MIGRATIONBill C-4's Doubtful and Ine!ec-tive Future

FOREIGN POLICYMilitarized Mining in Mexico

Foreign Aid to Mining Firmsby Roberto Nieto &

As Firm as a Tree

GENDEROccupy Rape Culture

SECURITYA Safety of Our Own

DEMOCRACYConsenting to Consensus

ENVIRONMENTEnvironment Canada Terminates Funding to Environmental Networks

ENERGYAfrican Activists Blast Unconventional Extraction

BUSINESSPlan Nord Under the Microscope

COMICArtisanal

"ree comrades and many others are still in jail, under house arrest or facing charges relating to the G20 in Toronto, including Ryan Rainville, Kelly Pflug-Back and Byron Sonne. Six of the 17 people facing conspiracy charges stem-ming from the G20 have pled guilty, and the other 11 had their charges withdrawn. Sentences for the six charged are expected to range between six months and two years. ""ere is no victory in the courts. "e legal system is and always has been a political tool used against groups deemed unde-sirable or who refuse to co-operate with the state. It exists to protect Canada’s colonial and capitalist social structure. It is also deeply individualistic and expensive," reads a statement put out by the 17 so-called conspirators when they announced the plea bargain. New documents showed that the infiltration in activist communities in the lead-up to the G20 con-stituted the largest police spying operation in Canadian history.Folks participating in Occupy actions in London, Halifax, Regina, Victoria, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal were forced out of the spaces they were holding; Occupy camps remain in Calgary and Winnipeg. In many cities where permanent camps are no longer being held, regular General Assemblies continue.In Canada, a group of Mexican farmworkers filed a suit against the federal government seeking damages after their contracts were broken.Canada's chief of defence sta! travelled to Qatar to discuss the continuing occupation of Libya. "ough the NATO military operation has ended, the oil has begun to flow again, and com-panies including Alberta-based Suncor are reported to be planning their return to Libya.

"e Department of National Defence posted a document online seeking a private US security com-pany to train Canadian soldiers who will remain in Afghanistan. "e contract "tests the Conser-vative government’s assurance that the more than 900 soldiers involved in the 2011-2014 train-ing mission would be operating largely out of harm’s way," accord-ing to the Toronto Star.Meanwhile, Afghan o#cials said six children were among seven civilians killed by a NATO bombing in the country's south. In Pakistan, an attack attributed to NATO killed 24 soldiers at a checkpoint.Ontario's Royal Military Col-lege (RMC), Kingston, o!ered an honorary Doctorate to hockey commentator and war-mongerer Don Cherry. “On many occa-sions he publicly expressed his contempt for many groups of the Canadian population, notably for the French-speaking Canadians, for the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] community and for the immigrants,” said RMC professor Catherine Lord. Cherry later declined the o!er.Defence Minister Peter McKay met with Ehud Barak, Israel's Minister of Defence in Ottawa, and hyped up increasingly strong Canada-Israel relations. “Canada and Israel have enjoyed close bilateral defence relations for some time and our special relationship with Israel has grown stronger in recent years,” said Minister MacKay. In addition, over the past month Canada moved even closer to Israel in several United Nations votes.An Irish organization began recruiting 10,000 people to participate in mortgage strikes, or in a refusal to pay mortgages with unfair conditions. "It is radical but it is where we are going if things don't change," said Ross Maguire

of New Beginning, a kind of trade union for Irish mortgage holders.In occupied British Columbia, folks from the Wet'swet'en and the Tsilhqot'in nations mobilized to keep oil and gas and mining companies o! their territory. "We will fight what is happening in the Alberta tar sands and what is happening to their aquifers and we will also fight plans to destroy the aquifers on our side of the Rocky Mountains," Toghestiy, heredi-tary chief of the Likhts'amisyu clan of the Wet'swet'en, told the Vancouver Media Co-op via email. Supporters and Indigenous land defenders held a protest in Vancouver, and did court support alongside the Tsilhqot'in.A decision from the US gov-ernment that would allow the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed was delayed. "e reprieve is a tem-porary victory for environmental activists, who mobilized en masse against the pipeline this summer.Presenters at an oil and gas conference in Houston, Texas, were recorded recommending that their colleagues learn about counterinsurgency as a means to fend o! protests against industry. "...[H]aving that understanding of psy ops in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylva-nia,” said Matt Pitzarella, director of Range Resources corporate communications.Otto Perez Molina, a retired army general, was elected President of Guatemala in a run-o! election. He promptly named an ex-Kaibil (member of Guatemalan special forces accused of the atrocities during the country's 36-year internal conflict) as Minister of Defence, and announced that he would use the Kaibiles to fight the Zetas, an organized crime group that originated along the US-Mexico border. Meanwhile, Quattro Resources, a Calgary-

Freedom for prisoners, NATO killers, #occupy

3!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

I! R"#$"%

www.dominionpaper.cainfo@dominionpaper.caPO Box 741 Station H

Montreal, QC H3G 2M7 !e Dominion is a pan-Canadian media network that seeks to provide a counterpoint to the corporate media and to direct attention to independent critics and the work of social movements. !e Dominion is published six times per year in print and on the web.

Publisher"e Dominion Newspaper Co-operative

Board of DirectorsNat Gray (contributor)Sharmeen Khan (reader)Dru Oja Jay (editor)Hillary Lindsay (editor)Tim McSorley (editor)

Editorial CollectiveRoddy DoucetMiles HoweDru Oja JayStephanie LawHillary LindsayMartin LukacsTim McSorleyDawn Paley Moira Peters

Copy EditorsJoel ButlerAlexander HemingwayJane HendersonLise KuhnKendra MartinSean McMillenDavid ParkinsonJulia VanderhamZander Winther

Comic ArtistHeather Meek

Cover illustration by Emily Davidson.In Review written by Dawn Paley.Back Talk compiled by Moira Peters.

based oil company, announced it has acquired an 80 per cent stake in a 554,000 hectare exploration project in Guatemala's northern Peten province.Violence continued to spread throughout Mexico, as 26 bodies were discovered in Guadalajara, the country's second biggest city. "e killings follow the arrival of 11,000 police and soldiers to the city for the Pan American Games.

In Brazil, military police staged invasions into the Favelas (shanty towns) surrounding Rio de Janeiro as part of a campaign to "pacify" the poor areas of the city before the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.A group of athletes in India pressured the Indian Olympic Committee to boycott the London 2012 Olympics because Dow Chemical is a prominent sponsor.

"We feel that it will be against the basic principles of the Olympics charter to partner with Dow Chemical, which is responsible for the ongoing disaster in Bhopal," reads a letter from the athletes, obtained by the Guardian.Anti-nuclear activists in France fought with police after blocking a shipment of recycled uranium headed for Germany.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH&e hastily fortified Gazebo at Occupy Toronto shortly before the early morning raid on the protest camp. For grassroots, independent coverage of the Occupy movement, check out mediacoop.ca/occupy. Darryl Richardson

Israeli Defence Forces to the Tahrir as the Canadian boat attempts to break the blockade on Gaza: "What is your course?"Ehab Lotayef, Canadian engineer, writer and activist on board the Tahrir: “The consciousness of humanity.”IDF: “What is your final destination?” Lotayef: “The betterment of mankind.”“

Send us your nominations for a grassroots photo or quote of the month: info@mediacoop.ca.

4 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80O'$($!)* P"+,*"-Pacific Trails Pipeline and Taseko Mines Kicked Out of Native Land

by Franklin Lopez

VANCOUVER—Indigenous people in two separate locations on unceded territory in British Columbia have been forced to mobilize in defence of the land over the past week, blocking machinery and corporate personnel from accessing their territories.

"e Likhts’amisyu and Unist’ot’en clans of the Wet'swet'en nation have long opposed the Pacific Trails Pipeline and taken many steps to defend their land and stop the project. Further south, on November 12, members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation confronted employees of Taseko Mines Limited, who had trespassed into their traditional territories.

On November 7, members of the Likhts’amisyu and Unist’ot’en received an anonymous tip that heavy equipment and sta! from the Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP) project were moving into their territory. PTP is a proposed liquified natural gas pipeline that would cut across unceded Indigenous lands in BC. After

receiving the information, a small group from both clans mobilized to secure the area and escort the equipment and personnel out. Members of the group created a sign reading “Road Closed 2 PTP Drillers” and guarded the road to ensure no corporate personnel entered. Early next morning, workers from the PTP started arriving in their vehicles.

"I approached the first vehicle, which was a white Budget rental jeep, and asked the lone occupant if he was there for the Pacific Trails Pipeline company," said Dini Ze’ Toghestiy, hereditary chief of the Likhts'amisyu clan. "He answered 'yes,' and I then sternly told him, 'You realize that I can’t let you through. You will have to turn around.' "e individual then replied, 'Understood, we will turn around and go.'"

After the vehicles turned away, the driver of a logging truck that waited until the road cleared rolled down his window and yelled, “Kick their ass! Kick their ass!” in support of the of the Likhts’amisyu and Unist’ot’en defence.

After two days spent

patrolling the area through heavy snow, and after several conversa-tions with PTP employees, the group successfully ensured that all drilling equipment and personnel had left the area.

"We will fight what is happening in the Alberta tar sands and what is happening to their aquifers, and we will also fight plans to destroy the aquifers on our side of the Rocky Mountains," Toghestiy told the Vancouver Media Co-op. "You cannot make compromises with water—especially when everything depends on it.”

In another struggle, which has also intensified over the past week, Taseko Mines Limited (TML) has continued to seek gov-ernment approval for the "Pros-perity" copper mine on Tsilhqot’in land, close to Williams Lake. After the first TML proposal was turned down last year, another version of the same proposal was resubmitted and is now under review by a panel from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

According to an account of the incident sent to the Vancouver Media Co-op, Chief Marilyn

Baptiste told TML employees that "they were trespassing on tradi-tional territory, that they were not authorized to be on the Tsilhqot'in traditional territory, and that BC does not have jurisdiction there."

In response, TML filed a petition in court to prevent further interference with their exploration.

“We are seeking every reasonable path available to us, despite our limited resources, to ensure that Tsilhqot’in rights are protected in the face of a company and a government that do not understand how unique and important this area is to our communities,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government. “We view the BC exploration permits as illegal, as they have failed to accommodate our already proven Aboriginal rights to this area—rights which will be adversely impacted by the significant amount of roads, drilling and test pits proposed by the company.”

!is piece was originally published by the Vancouver Media Co-op. Frank Lopez is a Vancouver-based filmmaker and creator of subMedia.TV.

Indigenous land defenders block pipeline and mining equipment from entering their territories

Grassroots activists walk along the road beside a camp blocking the right-of-way of the Pacific Trails Pipeline.

Dawn Paley

5!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 M$(').$+!

by Stephanie Law

VANCOUVER—Refugees who flee persecution and look for safety might want to think twice before coming to Canada through smuggling operations—at least that’s the message the Conserva-tive majority government seems to be sending.

"e federal parliament is set to pass Bill C-4 (formerly Bill C-49 and commonly known as the “anti-smuggling bill”), which would impose a mandatory one-year detention on any person who arrives in Canada via uncon-ventional means. "is could mean imprisonment of men, women and children who, facing desperate situations, failed to apply for and obtain refugee status before escaping their home countries for Canada.

"e bill has received little support outside of the Conserva-tive Party. Canada's three other political parties in the House of Commons, as well as human rights advocates and critics, are hoping to fight it o!.

"e Conservative Party has repeatedly said the bill is meant to protect Canadians and criminalize smugglers and smuggling opera-tions, not to demonize refugees.

Critics of the bill, including Canadian Civil Liberties Associa-tion and Amnesty International Canada, disagree. Amnesty International says that the bill “will in reality punish people seeking protection in Canada.”

Before the bill comes into e!ect, concrete evidence is scarce as to whether the proposed legislation would protect or punish refugees.

Australia provides a relevant example. Since 1992, the country has practised mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive by unconventional means. In fact, the Canadian government has consulted over the years with Australia to learn from their anti-smuggling legislation. Bill C-4 is modelled loosely on its Australian equivalent.

!e Dominion recently spoke to Mark Goudkamp to find out how the Australian legislation is a!ecting refugees. Goudkamp is the co-founder of Refugee Action Coalition in Australia, a grassroots organization that has campaigned against mandatory detention of refugees since 2000.

Excerpts from the conversa-tion follow.

On how the anti-smuggling policy works in Australia:

“"e Australian policy makes it illegal to bring in asylum seekers. It imposes jail sentences of up to ten years for people who organize the trips and it even criminalizes anyone who might spend money to help someone get on the boats. "e government uses the rhetoric of human smugglers constantly, without asking the question of who these people being detained are.

“As an example, say there was an Afghan or Tamil family here in our community and they raise money for someone stranded in Malaysia or Indonesia, which is the main transit point for refugees to come to Australia. "ey spend money on these people so that they can use the money to pay for a smuggler. But then they could also be charged for helping these people, who are desperate.

“Not only that, there are hundreds of Indonesian boat crew members who are o!ered work as

cooks or general hands on these smuggling boats. And they accept those jobs because there’s no more work left in their dying fishing industry. Many of these people are now in maximum-security jails in Australia.”

On whether there’s evidence that mandatory detention in Australia has deterred smuggling opera-tions:

""e argument the government uses is that mandatory detention deters people from getting into boats, which is rubbish. People leave because they're fleeing persecution. And no matter how hard the policy is, they're going to do that.

“In fact, Australia’s human rights commissioner has just condemned one of the detention centres in Western Australia. She said many of the asylum seekers are dying from the inside out. She released a report talking about the number of self-harm incidents, suicide attempts and hunger strikes in the centre. She was basically trying to say that the mandatory detention centre isn’t deterring people from seeking asylum, but is harming them.

“"ere are also increasing mainstream voices, like the Aus-tralian Medical Association, that have come out against mandatory detention. Even the head of immi-gration, who has been a supporter of government policy historically,

just a few weeks ago raised the question as to whether mandatory detention was working from the government’s perspective.”

On the lives of refugees who live in Australian detention centres:

“"ey can watch TV and access the internet, but they can’t go outside when they want. "ey can’t shop. "ey can’t contact people. "ey can’t go and get jobs or use the skills they have. "ey can’t gain new skills. "ey can’t send money back to their families at home. "ey know the Australian community sees them as a drain on society’s resources, and this kills their soul.

“"e actual physical condi-tions, well, it’s not like a slum that’s infested with cockroaches and rats, it’s not. But it’s more the psychological impact of being in there that’s harmful.

“I mean, there are now 872 children in detention as of July 31; those are the most recent statistics. I saw a couple of kids at my last visit to a detention centre, and one of them was a seven-year-old girl. During the school year, she goes to an immigrant primary school everyday and comes back to the centre everyday. But besides that, she and others can’t come and go as they please. Now that the school holiday has started, she was asking her mother, 'Mom, why can’t we got out and go do this? Are we bad people?'

“So, you know, people shouldn't be in that situation. Not to mention that she also has a one-year-old brother who was born in the detention centre. Sadly, their parents recently received a negative security assessment from the Australian Security Intel-ligence Organization and can’t be accepted into the country for reasons unknown to the family or me. But the irony is that they did receive refugee status from immigration o#cials, which says they face persecution at home. So,

Bill C-4's Doubtful and Ine!ective FutureGrassroots Australian activist warns against jailing refugees

continued on page 7

No One Is Illegal-Vancouver

6 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80F+'"$(! P+*$/0

Militarized Mining in MexicoCanadian mining company makes good o! the "drug war"by Dawn Paley

MADERA, MEXICO—On an August afternoon in 2008, Dante Valdez Jiminez was giving a teacher training class in an elementary school in Madera, a small town in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. But before he got through his lecture, he was interrupted by a group of 30 men, some of them armed.

In the minutes that followed, Valdez was savagely beaten in front of his students. While they beat him, his attackers yelled that he should keep his nose out of other people's business. Valdez was lucky to escape with his life.

Five days later, Amnesty International put out an alert expressing concern for the safety of Valdez, as well as members of a nearby community. "e attack was political: Valdez is known for his work against Minefinders, a Vancouver-based company that operates an open-pit gold mine

near Madera. Amnesty indicated that among the attackers were employees of the mining company.

“"ere isn’t a single authority in any of the three levels of government that is looking out for the people who are displaced, for people who have been mistreated or beaten,” said Valdez, his voice quiet and low. He pointed out that there was a classroom full of witnesses to the incident, but there was never an investigation.

"e attack on Valdez wasn’t an isolated event, but a brazen reminder of the repression meted out to those who organized against Minefinders, which began operating in Mexico in 1994 on the heels of the North American Free Trade Agreement. "e company started construction on a low-grade, cyanide-leaching gold and silver mine near Madera in 2007.

Madera, which means “wood” in Spanish, is situated high in the Sierra Madre mountain range

and possesses the rugged air of a logging town. But the area is anything but tranquil: throughout the Sierra Madre, the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, is said to be battling with La Linea, the armed wing of the Juarez Cartel.

According to the o#cial story, at stake are tra#cking routes, as well as vast fields where marijuana and opium poppies are cultivated by peasant and Indigenous farmers.

"e war in Mexico, often called a “war on drugs,” launched in late 2006, resulting in increased violence and militarization that has spread to municipalities and rural areas all over the country. "e northern state of Chihuahua has been particularly hard hit. Since 2008, more than 9,000 people have been murdered in the city of Juarez alone, and massacres against unarmed civilians have taken place across the state.

But in some areas, like

Madera, it appears the militariza-tion that’s taken place on the pretext of the drug war has worked in favour of the extractive industries.

Before construction of the Minefinders mine could begin, the historic town of Dolores was relocated to make way for the project, a!ecting more than 60 families. Locals were not ardently anti-mining, but many felt that Ejido Huizopa, the body which represents communal landholders in the area, was not getting a fair shake.

By 2008, as construction gave way to gold production, tensions between the company and members of Ejido reached a breaking point. "at May, after coming to a majority decision in an assembly, members of the Ejido erected a blockade at the mine access route, demanding mean-ingful negotiations and a better agreement with the company. People working for the mining

Nadine Wiepening

7!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80company were prevented from passing, but soldiers were allowed through the barricades.

Minefinders soon found a way around the protesters, one which didn’t involve sitting at a negotiating table.

“At the blockade, there was always, permanently, soldiers travelling in the company trucks, dressed like civilians, [and] as many as eight company trucks watching the demonstrations, the blockade,” said Valdez. Not only were blockaders intimidated by the presence of soldiers, but the company continued to access the mine, passing through the blockade because they had soldiers in their trucks.

During and immediately following an attack by armed commandos that year on civilians in Creel, a neighbouring village, soldiers and police maintained a continuous presence at the blockade.

“"ere was an attack on the community of Creel, and 14

people were killed,” explained David de la Rosa, an environmen-talist and peasant organizer based in Madera. “"e authorities took three days to get to Creel, and the army was here accompanying a peaceful blockade, backing up a company, just two hours away from where this took place.”

"e blockade lasted one year and five months, during which time residents say Minefinders co-opted members of Ejido Huizopa through financial incen-tives and intimidation.

“When the mining company saw that we had a majority of [communal land owners] support-

ing us, they began to manipulate in a certain way, using the same people from the Ejido to manipu-late other companeros, to ensure that we didn’t have a majority in decision-making,” said Luis Pena Amaya, a member of Ejido Huizopa who helped organize the blockade.

As on the blockades, the militarization of the region factored into Minefinders’ ability to win support for their open-pit mine.

“"e Federal Police had a presence and intimidated people on many occasions. In the decisive assembly, they took control and

surrounded the inside of the salon where we held our assembly,” said Pena Amaya. "e intrusion of police into communal decision-making is unconstitutional in Mexico. “When things turned against the other group, which was the group preferred by the mining company, [Federal Police] intervened to ensure that we didn’t exercise our rights.”

Eventually, the Ejido signed an agreement with Minefind-ers, but problems remain. Last year, a tear in the liner of a heap leach pad, which has yet to be fully repaired, caused leakage of contaminants near the mine site. Environmentalists and human rights organizations in the area confirmed that they fear travelling to the mine site, because the road to the mine is under the control of organized crime groups.

Dawn Paley is a journalist and co-founder of the Vancouver Media Co-op.

F+'"$(! P+*$/0

In some regions, like Madera, it appears the militarization that's taken place on the pretext of the drug war has worked in favour of the extractive industries.

since they can’t go home, they’re left with two choices: 1) find a third country to go to; or 2) stay in detention forever.

“Unless our campaign can overthrow these policies and get a more humanitarian perspective, they're going to be condemned for many, many years in this situation.

“Every individual story is moving. Once people hear the stories of these humans who the government tries to demonize, well, it becomes a lot harder for them to believe all the govern-ment’s bullshit.”

On why mandatory detention still exists in Australia:

“I actually think that the policy of mandatory detention is just as much about a feeling of insecurity and hysteria in the general Aus-tralian population, as it is about

punishing foreigners. If people are jailed like this, it sends a message to the public that: a) they’re unde-sirable; b) they’ve done something

wrong; and c) they can be used to divert people’s anger against things happening in Australian society, such as cuts to working conditions and cuts to public services, and so people have a useful scapegoat and

a useful target for their anger and their grieving for why their lives are shit.”

On the Canadian government’s choice of Australia as a role model:

"Word of warning for the Canadian government. No policy,

no matter how harsh, is going to stop people fleeing persecution from trying to seek asylum—all it does is create animosity in society and create more distress for people already traumatized.

“Refugees could be aware that there’s a detention system in Australia, and they know it’s not going to be nice. But that concern is far outweighed by the need to get into a country that’s a signatory of the Refugee Convention. "e short-term pain of being on a boat where you risk your life, and to spend a year or two in detention, is far preferable to rotting in a country, being absolutely terrified in their country of origin, being killed, and having absolutely zero prospect of a future for you and your family.”

Stephanie Law is a journalist based in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish Territories.

"Bill C-4," from page 5

“Word of warning to the Canadian government. No policy, nomatter how harsh, is going to stop people fleeing persecution from trying to seek asylum—all it does is create animosity in society and create more distress for people already traumatized.”

—Mark Goudkamp, co-founder of Refugee Action Coalition in Australia

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8 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80F+'"$(! P+*$/0

Foreign Aid to Mining FirmsCIDA teams up with NGOs in development work at mine sites

Ben Clarkson

by Roberto Nieto & Gwendolyn Schulman

MONTREAL—As excavators, heavy haulers and chemical treatment plants dig made-in-Canada mines around the world, Ottawa has taken new steps to ease growing criticism of Canada’s extractive sector.

"e Harper government recently announced a publicly funded agreement between three of Canada’s mining giants and three of Canada’s leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs). "e agreement, which marks a significant shift in how mining and politics mix, elicited little more than a yawn from the media. But a closer look reveals this partnership is transforming Canada’s aid landscape—with disturbing implications.

“"e Canadian government is using aid to support the expansion of Canadian mining...[and] to determine development paths inside countries according to the logic of mining companies,” Yao Graham of "ird World Network Africa, a research and advocacy

organization based in Ghana, told !e Dominion. Graham has seen many communities in Africa ravaged by the exploitative labour practices and lax environmental practices that often accompany mining megaprojects.

In the first phase of this new program, the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) has partnered Rio Tinto Alcan; Plan Canada is paired up with IAMGOLD; and World Vision Canada has joined forces with Barrick Gold. "is new funding approach raises some serious ethical and political questions about the role of NGOs, and constitutes a veritable PR coup for a mining industry that has racked up quite the rap sheet of environ-mental and human rights abuses.

Critics claim that under this new dispensation, industry can counter resistance to its activities by claiming that its presence has brought development to impover-ished communities. Cash-strapped NGOs, in an era of shrinking government funding for interna-tional development, have found a funding niche. Last but not

least, the Canadian government is able to deflect demands for more stringent—and potentially profit-damaging—controls over one of its most lucrative industries.

In the past, while NGOs were bound by financial ties to the state, they still had some nominal autonomy to bear witness to that abuse. Now, they are increas-ingly tied to government funds earmarked to further Canada’s mining interests, topped up by money from the mining industry itself.

“When a mine goes in, there is a development deficit created immediately because there are impacts that can last literally thousands of years on water, on land, on the air,” said Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada. “And these impacts can be devastating. It can mean that people literally have to leave that area and live somewhere else.”

Coumans, who has kept a watchful eye on this evolving relationship, argues that whatever project an NGO gets up and running in one of these mining communities cannot even begin

to redress the damage caused by the mining company’s presence there. She calls the NGO presence at mining sites “a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.”

Chris Eaton, the Executive Director of WUSC, sees things di!erently. He argues that this closer working relationship between NGOs and the mining sector will be an opportunity for organizations like WUSC to “nudge along good practice.” He is confident that WUSC’s role in building the capacity of local government to engage with mining companies will reap greater benefits for local people.

Plan Canada, another benefi-ciary under the new government initiative, did not return our calls.

Plan Canada will receive $5.7 million from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to fund activities relating to IAMGOLD’s mining activities in 13 communities in Burkina Faso.

Plan Canada could be in for a rough ride. Last May, IAMGOLD had to close down operations at its Essakane mine

&e Mining Association of Canada recently issued a press release encouraging the federal government to continue its support for Canada’s Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy. And why not: taxpayers are footing the bill for programs to make Canadian extractive industries look like good corporate citizens.

9!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 F+'"$(! P+*$/0in Burkina Faso due to labour unrest. "e company’s CEO, Steve Letwin, warned that he would not tolerate an “illegal” strike “[a]nd as they will find out, we will not tolerate anything that has a negative impact on our stakehold-ers.” Given Plan Canada’s stated commitment to “work in the best interests of children and the communities in which we work” will they be prepared to risk their multi-million dollar funding to speak out in protection of their “stakeholders”—namely the com-munities in which they work—should labour unrest become an issue there?

For the Canadian govern-ment, this new troika is simply the latest step in a long process of prying open the door on the planet’s mineral wealth to the benefit of the extractive industry. "e last decade saw the Canadian government provide technical and financial support to create industry-friendly mining codes around the world. "e Canadian Network on Corporate Account-ability documented how govern-ment initiatives in Colombia and Tanzania have translated into weaker environmental and social safeguards, reduced royalties for the host countries and new tax holidays.

Canadian cash, technocrats and know-how have also been involved in rewriting mining codes in Malawi, Ghana, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (with, in this last case, civil war as a backdrop). All this has led to rising profits for Canadian companies and dwindling revenues for host countries.

Now that many o#cial hurdles to access to overseas mineral wealth have come down, the government has turned its attention to partnering NGOs with mining firms. At the local level, this kind of agreement is cause for suspicion.

"e Canadian government is turning its back on a deeper examination of the structural problems in the relationship between First World mining firms and "ird World resources, says "ird World Network’s Graham, instead opting for what he calls a “palliative” approach. “It’s a

way of sidestepping the need for companies to pay more revenue because they can say, ‘We are doing so much for the community. Why do we have to put more into the central treasury?’”

"e mining industry’s dismal reputation is its Achilles heel. Concern about its poor track record overseas is growing—even the mainstream is starting to take note.

Despite the clarion call from Canadians to put guidelines and mechanisms in place to keep the industry in check, the government has opted instead for optics. “"e Canadian government is very anxious about the reputation of mining companies and instead of accountability, it is putting money into projects that show that mining leads to development,” said Coumans. In her view, it is now taxpayers that are footing the bill to polish a tarnished corporate image.

“CIDA has always worked government-to-government,” said Coumans. “Now what CIDA is doing is channelling Canadian taxpayer money directly to the mine site and basically paying for corporate social responsibility projects, and that is very bizarre.”

Eaton insists that WUSC’s work is about community empow-erment, not corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. “I don’t think the government should be funding NGOs to do the CSR of mining firms, and I don’t see ourselves doing that in the context of this initiative,” he said.

In the swirl of controversy around this corporate shift in government aid policy, one thing is clear: the Canadian mining sector has emerged the big winner.

Recently, it led a successful lobby e!ort to defeat Bill C-300, the bill that would have seen the introduction of minor controls on

the unregulated overseas activities of Canadian-owned mines.

Now, this powerful sector has access to even more government funds as well as NGO expertise to help revamp its public image.

Little wonder the Mining Asso-ciation of Canada recently issued a press release encouraging the federal government to continue its support for Canada’s CSR Strategy. It knows a good thing when it sees it.

Roberto Nieto is a Montreal-based independent journalist and activist who has worked for unions as an organizer in support of migrant workers. He is a regular contributor to Amandla!, Canada’s longest running African current a"airs radio show. Gwendolyn Schulman is co-founder and co-host of Amandla!

MONEY IN MINING

WUSC-Rio Tinto Alcan projectTotal budget: $928,000 over 3

years

CIDA: $500,000

WUSC/Rio Tinto Alcan:

$428,000

ZŝŽdŝŶƚŽŶĞƚƉƌŽĮƚŝŶϮϬϭϬ$726,000,000

Plan Canada-IAMGOLD projectTotal budget: $7.6 million over

5.5 years

CIDA: $5.7 million

Plan Canada: $0.9 million

/D'K>ΨϭŵŝůůŝŽŶ/D'K>ŐƌŽƐƐƉƌŽĮƚŝŶϮϬϭϬ$597,000,000

World Vision-Barrick Gold projectdŽƚĂůďƵĚŐĞƚΨϭŵŝůůŝŽŶŽǀĞƌ3.5 years

CIDA: $500,000

World Vision/Barrick Gold:

$500,000

ĂƌƌŝĐŬ'ŽůĚŶĞƚƉƌŽĮƚŝŶϮϬϭϬ$3,279,000,000

^ŽƵƌĐĞĂŶĂĚŝĂŶ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚŐĞŶĐLJ^ĞĚĂƌ ĐŽŵ

A new agreement between Canada's mining giants and three leading NGOs, which marks a VLJQL¿FDQWVKLIWLQKRZPLQLQJDQGSROLWLFVPL[elicited little more than a yawn from the media.

Hillary Bain Lindsay has

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Local began in 2008, and

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Love, the Media Co-op

Anna H

Occupy Rape

Culture

MONTREAL—On the night of October 19, something happened at Occupy Montreal that would substantially change the mood of the camp.

Exactly what occurred is unclear. Some claim there was an attempted rape. Others shrug o! the incident as nothing more than an invasion of a young woman’s personal space by an intoxicated man.

Incidents of sexual assault and rape have been reported in New York, Cleveland, Dallas, Baltimore, Glasgow...sadly, the list goes on. It is an unfortunate reminder that even movements seeking a more just world, free from oppressive systems such as capitalism, are not inherently free from a culture of rape and violence against women and other marginalized populations, such as trans- people and those with disabilities.

“It has nothing to do with Occupy. It has everything to do with the problems in the world that Occupy is trying to eradicate,” says Laura Boyd-Clowes, a philosophy student at Concordia University. Boyd-Clowes has been actively organizing with the Occupy Montreal movement since it began.

“Let's be clear. "is is something that happens in society regularly and the

Occupy movement is like a little microcosm for society,” she says.

According to the Violence Against Women Survey, published in 1993, 39 per cent of Canadian adult women reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual assault since the age of 16. "is comprehensive study on gender-based violence also found that only six per cent of sexual assaults were reported to police.

It should not be seen as exceptional that sexual assault is being reported at Occupy sites. Rather, it seems to reflect a society rife with problems, one that so often silences, excuses or condones sexual assault.

Lucinda Marshall is the President of the Feminist Peace Network. Noticing the prevalence of gender-based oppressions in the Occupy movement, she created a group called Occupy Patriarchy. Based in Washington, DC, Marshall is hopeful that Occupy Patriarchy will spread to other sites and help to create spaces that explicitly address gender-based violence and oppression.

“"e bottom line is that you

cannot talk about economic justice unless you are going to talk about things like the wage gap, about childcare policies, maternity leave, all of those things that have a huge economic impact on women,” she says. “"ose things need to be a part of the conversation if we're going to have real change that [would] impact 99 per cent of us, not just the male percentage of us.”

At Occupy Montreal, movement to address gender-based inequalities has been slow. Discussion of creating safer spaces and an anti-patriarchy committee has circulated in camp. However, after the disputed incident of October 19, no explicit gender-based policies were discussed at the General Assembly, and no statements have been released against sexual assault.

While there has been little concrete action to challenge issues of gender-based violence at Occupy Montreal as of yet, anti-oppression workshops addressing gender inequity have been scheduled and a call-out to organize around issues of consent and safer spaces has been circu-

lated among many local gender advocacy organizations.

When asked if there was a need for a motion explicitly addressing gender-based violence, Occupy Montreal participant Vivian Kaloxilos stated that gender inequality was not an issue. “We try to look at each other not as men and women but as people just doing things,” she said.

Not all agree that a space that operates without acknowledging the existence of gender di!erences will be able to overcome gender inequality.

“Clearly, gender-based oppression is happening in our world and may be perpetuated even in these well intentioned spaces,” says Vanessa Fernando, External Coordinator of the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill’s Student Society. “I think explicitly acknowledging its occurrence is the first step towards making it better.”

Fernando says that the rhetoric of supposed equality might erase or delegitimize the experiences of those who experi-ence gender-based violence.

For Fernando, identifying the existence of gender inequality and its intersection with issues of privilege, race, and ability is a key move in the creation of a strong movement for social justice. “We can't just be talking about the

Confronting sexual assault and gender-based violence in the

Occupy movement

by Dana Holtby

According to the Violence Against Women Survey, published in 1993, 39 per cent of Canadian adult women reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual assault since the age of 16. illustration by Emily Davidson

11!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 G"!1"'state and capitalism. We need to be talking about all of these other things together. Historically in these movements it's been like, 'Oh, we'll talk about this later, once we get these baseline things achieved,’ and then it gets further and further marginalized.”

In an e!ort to combat sexual assault, a handful of occupations have established gender-oriented

committees and released state-ments explicitly condemning gen-der-based violence. Occupy Wall Street has created a safer-spaces committee that strives to create an anti-oppressive environment. "e committee has established itself “in order to respond to threatening actions that continue systematic forms of oppression.”

Safer spaces frameworks have been employed to provide for a greater sense of safety within

a community, while recognizing that notions of safety can vary from individual to individual. "ese spaces frequently challenge the way that dynamics of power, domination, violence, oppression, marginalization and inequality are replicated, and place a greater emphasis on processes of consent.

Fernando sees the creation of safer spaces as part of a process

of recognizing di!ering access to power and privilege. She sees these anti-oppressive frameworks as powerful tools for change and self-reflection. “"ere needs to be that wholesale recognition that [social change] needs to be created in a way that people will be respected and supported if they critique something," she says. "Otherwise the movement is going to keep perpetuating [the oppressive system] we have.”

Despite the creation of safer spaces committees, controversy continues to surround protocol for dealing with instances of sexual assault. Whether or not to engage with police has caused much argument within occupation sites.

At Occupy Baltimore, a security statement released to the media without the consent of a General Assembly, caused an uproar in the press. "e statement suggested that assaults be dealt with internally rather than through police involvement.

Police involvement has been criticized by some for its potential to cause greater harm or trauma to a survivor, particularly those with precarious legal status. "e statement was later revised to express that while recognizing the flawed US Justice system, the movement will respect the desires and decisions of survivors when dealing with assault, and will provide alternative resources for those who don’t wish to engage with police.

Instances of assault at Occupy Montreal are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, says Eric Laramee, who acts as Occupy Montreal's negotiator with police. "ere is a mediation committee set up to deal with the accused, but

ultimately the decision on whether or not to call police is up to the survivor.

“I think the key thing is that the ultimate decision is up to the person who was victimized,” feminist advocate Marshall says. “I think that [dealing with assault internally] should be seen as an option. If it's an option that might empower somebody, then, that's terrific. If it's intimidating them from reporting a crime to the police that they feel can better handle it, then that's not okay.”

In the case of the October 19 incident, the police were called and the accused individual was removed from the site. It is unclear whether or not charges were laid.

While the occupations outwardly focus their battle on economic injustice, an important struggle towards gender equity and against a culture of rape continue to be fought within the Occupy camps.

""e problem is still there,” says Marshall. “We have a lot of work to do, specifically to make male people aware of the damage that misogyny and patriarchy cause."

Dana Holtby is a feminist, environmen-tal activist and indy media lover.

“Gender-based oppression is happening in our world and may be perpetuated even in these well-intentioned spaces."

—Vanessa Fernando, outreach coordinator, Sexual Assault Centre of McGill’s Student Society

Where can I find !e Dominion?dŚĞŽŵŝŶŝŽŶŝƐĐĂƌƌŝĞĚŝŶŵŽƌĞƚŚĂŶϲϱůŽĐĂƟŽŶƐĂĐƌŽƐƐĂŶĂĚĂ

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADORThe Sprout Restaurant, St. John's

NOVA SCOTIAdŚĞdĂůůΘ ŵĂůů ŶƟŐŽŶŝƐŚŶĐŚŽƌƌĐŚŝǀĞŝŶĞ>ŝďƌĂƌLJ ,ĂůŝĨĂdžƚůĂŶƟĐEĞǁƐ ,ĂůŝĨĂdž

NEW BRUNSWICKCHMA-FM, SackvilleZĞĂĚƐEĞǁƐƐƚĂŶĚ DŽŶĐƚŽŶZĞĂĚƐEĞǁƐƐƚĂŶĚͲhŶŝƚĞĚŽŽŬ-store, Fredericton

QUEBECThe Word Bookstore, MontrealCo-op la Maison Verte, MontrealConcordia Co-op Bookstore, Mon-trealLe Point Vert, Montreal

ONTARIOdŚĞŽŽŬƐŚĞůĨ 'ƵĞůƉŚSky Dragon Centre, HamiltonAKA Autonomous Social Centre, KingstonŵƉŽǁĞƌŵĞŶƚ/ŶĨŽƐŚŽƉ >ŽŶĚŽŶ

dŚĞŽŽŬ ƚŽƌĞzŽƌŬhŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJ EŽƌƚŚzŽƌŬDĂŐƐWůƵƐ KƩĂǁĂƌŝƩŽŶΖƐ KƩĂǁĂ'ůĞďĞ ŵŽŬĞ ŚŽƉ KƩĂǁĂƌŝƩŽŶΖƐtĞƐƚďŽƌŽ KƩĂǁĂDĂŐƐΘ&ĂŐƐ KƩĂǁĂChristopher's Smoke Shop, St. CatherinesThis Ain't the Rosedale Library, TorontoToronto Women's Books, TorontoGlobal Aware, TorontoWƌĞƐƐĞ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůĞͲĞĂĐŚTorontoWƌĞƐƐĞ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůĞηϯͲĂŶĨŽƌƚŚTorontoŽŽŬŝƚLJηϯͲĂŶĨŽƌƚŚ dŽƌŽŶƚŽŽŽŬŝƚLJηϰͲYƵĞĞŶ dŽƌŽŶƚŽŽŽŬŝƚLJηϭͲŶŶĞdž dŽƌŽŶƚŽWƌĞƐƐĞ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůĞηϭͲůŽŽƌ TorontoWƌĞƐƐĞ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůĞηϮͲŽůůĞŐĞTorontoConspiracy Culture, TorontoBook City in the Village, TorontohŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJŽĨtŝŶĚƐŽƌŽŽŬƐƚŽƌĞ

Windsor

MANITOBADŽŶĚƌĂŐŽŶĂĨĞ tŝŶŶŝƉĞŐŽŵŝŶŝŽŶEĞǁƐΘ'ŝŌƐ tŝŶŶŝƉĞŐDĐEĂůůLJZŽďŝŶƐŽŶŽŽŬƐĞůůĞƌƐ;t'ͿWinnipeghŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJŽĨDĂŶŝƚŽďĂ tŝŶŶŝƉĞŐ

SASKATCHEWANTurning the Tide, SaskatoonDĐEĂůůLJZŽďŝŶƐŽŶŽŽŬƐĞůůĞƌƐSaskatoon

ALBERTA'ŽŽĚ>ŝĨĞŽŵŵƵŶŝƚLJŝŬĞ ŚŽƉCalgaryŝůůLJΖƐEĞǁƐ ĂůŐĂƌLJWith The Times, CalgaryĂŝůLJ'ůŽďĞEĞǁƐ ĂůŐĂƌLJ,ƵďŝŐĂƌΘEĞǁƐƐƚĂŶĚ ĚŵŽŶƚŽŶŚŽǁΖƐsĂƌŝĞƟĞƐ &ŽƌƚDĐDƵƌƌĂLJ

BRITISH COLUMBIALotus Books, CranbrookBizarre Entertainment, GoldenBookland, Kamloops

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12 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80

by Megan Kinch

TORONTO—How does a non-hierarchical movement deal with the safety of its participants? “Occupy” encampments in many countries have been struggling with this question, and Toronto’s “Occupy” is no exception. Located in the downtown east side, St. James Park has been a refuge to many homeless people, and drinking and drug use have always been present. Dick Johnson, who has been helping de-escalate problems, told me that it was important to be sensitive to the needs of long-term park residents: “We have to remember that they were here first and a lot of the problems are with people who

were here before us. "e longest resident has been living here for 10 years.”

A team of marshals is trained and on call to de-escalate problems. “"e issue is that we are dealing with the acts that go on in the park whether we are here or not,” one member of the Marshal Team said. “We have had to evict several people from the park in a non-violent way. "ere have been a few instances of extremely disruptive people who we were able to deal with in a non-violent and loving way and who were then able to be extremely productive members of this community. We need to publicize the idea about crisis prevention and de-escalation. What we are doing here is very

di!erent from the way society at large deals with conflict. "ere is a lot to learn for everyone.”

General Assemblies (GAs) in particular have been a site of significant disruption. In the most serious incident, a man showed his penis to the crowd during the meeting. But occupiers are taking steps to deal with these problems. A policy on drugs and alcohol (they are banned) has been passed through the GA.

“Marshals never quit,” said Johnson, one of the marshals. “"ere have been a lot of proactive solutions happening.”

“Security in the park should be all of our responsibility,” Johnson said. “We should not let either paranoia or apathy get to us—we also should not be vigilan-tes. Sometimes the best thing to do is to ask someone one else to help deal with the situation.”

"ere has also been an education in dealing with mental illnesses and police; people are realizing that it's not appropri-ate to call the police for mental illness or intoxication and that the paramedics and crisis intervention teams are better for situations that have become too out of hand for the park community to deal with.

Mental health and nursing professionals have started volunteering for the medic committee to help deal with these sorts of issues. "ere has been a general agreement only to involve the police in serious incidents of assault, and only when the survivor wants to go that route.

Taylor Flook is an experi-enced environmental activist who has been a key member of many committees at Occupy Toronto that deal with safety in the park. She says that at first people were reluctant to deal with problems out of a misplaced liberal social-ideology where people didn’t want to interfere with anyone else. “And we’re now…ending our third week—we are at a point when I mention that a sexual assault has happened again and that we liaised with the police and had them assist in the apprehension of the perpetrator, people clapped. It was

very bizarre [to see such a change in attitudes]. So, we’re seeing that people are getting it. I hope that people are getting it fast enough to mitigate any further trauma upon an individual while people suss out their ideologies of how to deal with things.”

"ere have been several incidents in which occupiers reluctantly felt they had to involve the o#cial justice system. In the first week, a man was stealing from tents and sexually assault-ing people by touching their feet—occupiers caught him, took him to the edge of the park, and turned him over to the police. "is week, a team of marshals searched for another man who allegedly sexually assaulted someone and turned him over to police, as the victim wanted to file charges. "ere was also a citizen’s arrest made of a Sun TV reporter who was pursuing people so aggres-sively they were being hit with the TV cameras. While the Sun TV reporter was banned from the park, other reporters from the Sun newspaper respectfully camped out for several days without incident.

Flook regrets that the camp still doesn’t have a firm process for restorative justice and as a result still has to deal with police regarding serious incidents: “…we don’t have elders or first nations people or anyone with a restorative justice process to actually play that out and show what healing is like, what atoning for your actions is like in a community.”

She says that marshals are a good first step (she’d rather they were called “mediators”). She told Toronto Media Co-op: “Marshals are just a bunch of people who were willing to volunteer; brave individuals who were trying to be the piece that is missing in our greater society. "e police have, depending on your experience, failed at the ability to mediate conflict, they actually help escalate conflict…instead of that, what we’re trying to do is create community.”

Megan Kinch is an activist and journalist in Toronto.

A Safety of Our OwnSecurity and community in St. James Park

Two men stand by on marshal duty in St. James Park during Occupy Toronto. Marshals worked to de-escalate conflicts at the camp throughout the occupation.

Kristyna Balaban

S"/2'$.0

!is article and the one opposite were published by the Toronto Media Co-op

13!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80

Consenting to ConsensusReflections on building direct democracy at Occupy Torontoby Owen Sheppard

TORONTO—Interviews with Occupy Toronto participants have revealed a wide range of opinion on the e!ectiveness of the move-ment’s process for making group decisions.

According to Brandon Gray of Occupy Toronto, decisions are made through a consensus system where possible, with a 90 per cent “supermajority” vote if consensus proves impossible.

Some participants high-lighted the constructive aspects of the current meeting procedure. Danielle, visiting from Occupy Guelph, observed that general assemblies (GAs) help people to get “a grounding in how to speak to each other e!ectively, how to problem-solve and how to use di!erent models of communica-tion like consensus.”

But Alex Balch noted that structures for revising and resubmitting proposals to GAs have not been established and that GAs have simply ignored some proposals—most notably a request to stop using the "People's Mic" so that people with autism can better participate in meetings.

"e People’s Mic, a com-munication system that involves assembly members repeating state-ments in a chorus, was popularized in New York due to the local illegality of amplification systems. It has since been eagerly hailed as a participatory practice and widely adopted.

In a blog posted on the

Toronto Media Co-op website, one participant describes how use of the People’s Mic a!ected her:

“"e first time it happened, the chorus of voices coming from all sides (to announce a General Assembly taking place in a few hours) was so loud and over-whelming that I actually found myself cowering..."is felt like a form of segregation to me. I will not be returning to that park until/unless I can participate in the meetings.”

Claire Voltarine is a member of the accessibility committee, which is “made up of disabled people and their allies.” Voltarine describes the People's Mic issue as complicated. “It is quite a barrier for people with...di#culties such as hearing disabilities or anything on the autism spectrum, or auditory processing challenges,” she explains. “But there are people with hearing impairment who say that it helps them. People are definitely committed to finding di!erent strategies, but it's been really di#cult with the logistical

and...ideological constraints.”Lynn, a member of Occupy

Toronto's Legal Committee (who spoke to the Media Co-op outside of her o#cial capacities), noted that improvements had been made to GA procedures through a rotating facilitation system. Despite this, some have noted a disproportionate number of white, male speakers and facilitators at GAs. One female participant noted that males outnumbered females by three-to-one at one Sunday evening GA. A male participant at the same GA agreed that “it seemed that all of the loud and aggressive males were the ones who were picked [to speak] first.”

Balch concurs with this analysis. “"ere have been a lot of people...who are using their sense of entitlement to make their voices heard over those of others,” he said following the GA, where the new rotating facilitation procedure was discussed. One woman related the announcement of a “silence is consent” policy, which implied that participants who do not

(or cannot) make known their opposition to proposals at the GA are nevertheless bound by the consensus of the group.

“We’d be fooling ourselves if we thought that, by a snap of the fingers, we could create a new society here in the park,” Gray observed. “We’re still struggling in the old society, and that means racism, sexism, ableism, homopho-bia and transphobia.”

Owen Sheppard is a journalist with the Toronto Media Co-op.

D"3+/')/0

&e "People’s Mic," a communication system that involves assembly members repeating statements in a chorus, was popularized in New York due to the local illegality of amplification systems. Mike Barber

"ese two articles were produced by the Toronto Media Co-op.

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toronto.mediacoop.ca

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14 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80E!#$'+!3"!.Environment Canada Terminates Funding to Environmental NetworksBiggest loser is government, say environmentalistsby Moira Peters

HALIFAX—Grassroots environ-mental groups and organizers were hit hard by the federal govern-ment's announcement on October 13 that the half-million dollars that funds Canada's environmental networks will be terminated. For people like Katherine Gagne of Gays River, NS, this means the opportunities she has had to engage with the province of Nova Scotia about the lead and zinc mine in her village have disap-peared. But speaking at a press conference in Halifax on October 19, Gagne argued that the biggest loser in this deal is government.

"For this tiny amount of money, Environment Canada is shooting itself in the foot," she said, explaining that paid bureau-crats are obligated to use taxpayers' resources to respond to all citizens' correspondence and concerns. "NSEN [Nova Scotia Environ-mental Network] has shown us how to approach government and community in an intelligent way."

Gagne said that with support from NSEN, she and her neighbours formed the Gay's River Valley Environmental Protection Association, and have been working to ensure a nearby lead and zinc mine operates strictly within regulations of the Departments of Natural Resources and the Environment.

"A lot of people like me want to get involved [in activism], but we need some kind of structure to help form the relationships," she said.

"e Canadian Environmental Network (Reseau-CEN) was established in 1977 to promote and streamline environmental work being done by grassroots organizations and to provide Canadians working on the ground a platform for engagement with Environment Canada and their provincial departments.

In fact, RCEN plays a critical

role in democratic policy-building in Canada, functioning as the formal mechanism for federally-legislated consultations on environmental policy and projects: "meaningful public participation" is called for in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

"Small and often volunteer organizations take part in these consultations," said Jennifer McGowan from the Ecology Action Centre, another NSEN member group. "rough the RCEN, "the environmental community decides who best speaks to a particular consulta-tion topic, through a transparent application process," she said. In this way, community-sourced, scientific, Indigenous and tradi-tional knowledge is funnelled to provincial and federal policy.

"RCEN is not a special interest lobby group," said

McGowan, who added, tongue-in-cheek, ""is announcement only a!ects Canadians who breathe air and drink water and eat food."

"'Austerity measures' is code for 'spending priorities,'" said Angela Giles of the Council of Canadians, pointing out that these priorities were playing out the very day of the NSEN-organized press conference. While the panel addressed the Harper government's $547,000 cutback to grassroots environmental work across the country, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter was at the Halifax shipyards to congratulate Irving Shipbuilding on its $25 billion federal contract win. Media attention was painfully absent at RCEN's press conference (this volunteer reporter was the sole media person present). And the announcement that cut nearly $20,000 from Nova Scotia's envi-

ronmental communities also came the day after Dexter announced a $10 million provincial investment in aerospace and defence jobs in Nova Scotia.

"e nation-wide cuts amount to $547,000—the entire core budget for RCEN's Ottawa o#ce, the 10 provincial networks and the Yukon network. Nova Scotia's allotment—based on population—would have been $18,000.

In an October 13 letter to RCEN, Environment Canada's Nancy Roberts wrote that the decision to cut the network's funding "reflects a broader shift away from providing core organizational funding...as part of Environment Canada's ongoing e!orts to allocate its resources in the most e#cient and cost-e!ective manner possible."

"e panelists at the press conference on October 19 weren't

&e Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN), which provides support to grassroots environmental groups across the province, is out its $18,000 allotment in federal funding as of an October 13 announcement by Environment Canada. Pictured here: A group of teens visits a clear cut on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia in 2003 as part of the Standing Tall campaign, a project of the Ecology Action Centre, an NSEN member group. Rochelle Owen

15!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 E!#$'+!3"!.buying that.

""e knowledge, resources and expertise amassed by 647 environmental groups over 34 years is priceless—you can't buy it," said NSEN Advisor Sheila Cole. ""is is the best possible value Environment Canada could ever find."

RCEN member groups represent some 630,000 active individuals. Ninety-eight per cent of the work done in the networks is voluntary.

According to a study last year by Phoenix Youth Progams, investing in non-profit organiza-tions is an extremely e#cient use of public dollars because the calibre of workers is so high—three-quarters of people employed by non-profits in Nova Scotia hold at least one university degree. "e study found that non-profits provide services at a cheaper rate than government or industry.

Janelle Frail, director of Nova Scotia's network, may not have her job come January, when NSEN's bank account runs dry. However, she agrees that the environment sector cuts leave the government itself the most serious casualty.

"Our annual meeting with the province is hugely beneficial to them: instead of having to organize 60 meetings, they have one," she said. NSEN, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, works with 62 grassroots environmental groups in Nova Scotia.

"We were very disappointed to hear of Environment Canada's decision to no longer fund this important work," wrote Nova Scotia Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau in an email. "I have written a letter to [federal Environment] Minister [Peter] Kent, asking him to reconsider this decision."

Halifax city councillors Peter Lund and Jennifer Watts announced they had just passed a resolution at City Hall to send a letter on behalf of Halifax Regional Municipality to Environment Canada, asking the department to reverse the cuts. "We hope the FCM [Federation of Canadian Municipalities] will get involved in this," said Lund.

In an interview after the

conference, Frail explained how the networks have been stretched thin over time.

"Prior to 2006, RCEN received about $1 million. A half-million was to fund consulta-tions, the other half was to run the networks. "e consultations are still happening, but they're piecemeal: networks have to apply for grants as they come along," she said, explaining that this puts further strain on sta! and vol-unteers to seek out and apply for monies that used to be provided in one chunk.

"For 30 years, the federal Minister of the Environment came to our AGMs...and there was lots of time to engage with our members," said Cole. "Only since the current majority Conservative government does the minister not come to our meetings, or even answer our calls."

"In any other sector, if that minister did not speak to their constituents... Can you imagine if the Department of Fisheries and Oceans didn't speak to fishermen's associations, or if the Depart-ment of Agriculture refused to return farmers' phone calls?" said McGowan. "It's mindblowing."

"Year after year we have sat at the table with industry," said Cole, describing RCEN's international-ly-reknowned Multi-Stakeholder Decision-Making process, whereby government, academics, scientists and environmentalists cultivated relationships with Nova Scotia's paintings & coatings industry.

""ere are very good people in the industry, and they were seeing the opportunities in manu-facturing environmentally friendly products," said Cole, explaining NSEN's work in volatile and organic compounds which helped "put good paints on the shelves in Nova Scotia.

"Canada was at a point internationally to take the lead in green industry—without the greenwashing. Now, Canada has a horrific reputation," she said, citing Canada's international campaigns to rebrand tar sands oil "Ethical Oil."

"Nature Nova Scotia wishes to express shock and regret over the recent announcement," wrote

Bob Bancroft, celebrated Nova Scotian biologist, in a letter of support to NSEN. ""is is a broken promise, Mr. Kent."

"e promise was a letter of intent, sent by Environment Canada to RCEN in August, which stated that RCEN's funding was coming. "e funds, promised in August, and which never came, was to run the networks—includ-ing paying sta!—for the 2011 fiscal year. RCEN announced on October 13 that its sta! would be laid o! as of the following day.

"Networks have been paying sta! from their bank accounts for the past six months, assuming they'd be back-paid," said Frail, who also said Environment Canada's practice of delaying funding to RCEN was nothing new. "I once worked for four months without getting paid." She said that, over the year as federal funding continued to be delayed, she cut her hours from 30 per week to 20 to 10.

Now, she is unsure what will happen to NSEN, or to her work within the network.

"Everything is on pause—what should I continue to do? Should our rep continue to be part of the Nova Scotia Water Advisory Group? Will I continue to sit on the Minister's Roundta-ble on Environment and Sustain-able Prosperity?" she said. "And remember, this is being repeated 11 times over—in 10 provinces and one territory."

Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only three networks that have confirmed they have enough cash to stay active until March 2012.

Cutting out Canada's envi-ronmental networks evokes a grim image of a "disjointed, disengaged and alienated" environmental community, according to Gina Patterson of Clean Nova Scotia.

""ey're saying there's a shift to web-based consultations. Does this mean that corporations and politicians will also be shifted to web-based consultations?" said McGowan. "Or will they still be at the table while small environ-mental organizations are plugging away at their computers?"

Frail agrees. "For me, the worst part is that the government

is going to cherry-pick who can sit at the decision-making table, instead of us deciding who sits at the table."

Moira Peters lives and bikes in Halifax.

"is article was produced by the Halifax Media Co-op.

For more grassroots coverage of Nova Scotia stories check out

halifax.mediacoop.ca

"&ere's been a slow death to Environment Canada's programs," said St. Mary's professor and head of the Community-Based Environmental Monitoring Network Cathy Conrad in 2007, when $10 million was cut from Environment Canada. &at year, Nova Scotia's Ecology Action Centre and BC's Sierra Club were each cut out of long-time federally funded projects, and a local climate change monitoring network, in which scientists and residents analyzed environmental data, had its budget slashed by 80 per cent, on top of a 34 per cent cut the year previous—the year Harper's Conservatives came to power. &e existance of these clippings is also of note: the local media that covered these cuts in 2006-2007 are absent in 2011.

16 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80E!"'(0

by Tim McSorley

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA—In Durban, you're blinded by green. From billboards to uniforms, it's impossible to miss that this South African city is hosting the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from November 28 to December 9.

One would think you could not get any further from the northern hinterlands of the Alberta's Athabasca watershed. But in a city filled with palm trees and tens of thousands of delegates engaging in another round of high-level climate negotiations, environmental and community organizers from across Africa, the Middle East and North America came together over northern Alberta's tar sands and similar projects around the world.

“"ere's a lot of development right now globally around tar sands, oil shale, and other extrac-tion projects,” said Oliver Meth, a Durban environmental activist and one of the organizers of Every-one's Downstream 5 (EDS).

Held for the past four years in Edmonton, Alberta, the annual conference was established to explicitly focus on the Alberta tar sands, both its impact on downstream communities directly a!ected by the project and its broader ramifications. It has gradually grown, and this year made the leap to a new location in order to build broader links with international communities, especially many African com-munities which are now seeing tar sands and other unconventional extraction projects beginning in their regions.

Presenters from areas including Congo-Brazzaville, Madgascar, Israel, Uganda and South Africa were all present to share the struggles they are facing against growing threats to human health and the environment, including wildlife, plant life and potable water.

While the diversity of participants pointed to the degree to which people are growing concerned, tar sands and uncon-ventional oil extraction, and the specific issues they present, are relatively new to Africa and to

environmental activists across the country. “We need to build more awareness about these projects,” Meth said. “Not everybody talks to each other.”

Clearly there are major di!erences from community to community, but many people echoed concerns heard in Canada for nearly a decade, as the Alberta tar sands has grown and its environmental impact has become more clear.

“If the extraction of 40 tons of conventional oil has not led us to economic development, it's clear that tar sands, which have led to negative impacts in Canada, and which are our best and only example we can look to, won't do so either,” said Christian Mounzeo, president of Engage-ment for Peace and Human Rights from Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

Since 2008, Italian corpora-tion ENI has been developing a massive energy production undertaking, including palm oil plantations, natural gas and a major tar sands extraction project. Two months ago, the company announced it would be proceeding from the exploratory to extraction phase. But even though not a drop of tar sands crude has been extracted yet, there are already growing concerns, Mounzeo said.

"e company has not been forthright on how an environ-mental impact assessment will be carried out, he said, and communi-ties haven't been provided even the most basic information about the project itself or been involved in public consultations.

“"ere is a problem of access to information and public participation,” he said.

Such concerns are similar to the concerns expressed by many Indigenous communities in Canada, who have long called for the right to free, prior and informed consent before such major extraction projects take place on their lands, regardless of whether the project focuses on tar sands, conventional oil or mining.

Other activists from across Africa echoed similar concerns. "ey also discussed questions around government corruption, political instability and how to make trans-national companies—which often benefit from low tax rates, government corruption and the ability to work through a revolving door of subsidiaries—accountable for their actions.

In Uganda, environmental activists have been trying since 2000 to hold oil extraction companies accountable for environmental devastation, human rights abuses and tax evasion along the shores of Lake Albert. It is part of the water system that feeds from Lake Victoria in central Africa into the southern head of the Nile, featuring one of the most environmentally diverse ecosys-tems in the world.

Bwengue Rajab Yusuf of Nape-Oil Watch Uganda spoke about how a constantly changing corporate presence—from the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Heritage Oil to Tullow Oil (South Africa) to Total (France) to, most recently, Chinese oil firms—has made it nearly impossible to seek financial compensation for the destruction of agricultural land and wildlife conservation zones. “Who do you pursue?” he asked, pointing out that it becomes even more di#cult when confronted with corrupt government o#cials who refuse to uphold environ-mental assessment laws or to enforce the protection of wildlife sanctuaries.

As Mouzeno explained it, residents of the Congo and across Africa are up against the “link between oil exploration, conflict, debt, corruption and under-development.”

But if the challenges are shared, so is the willingness to build new, community-based means of resistance. In Uganda, it has taken the form of Sustain-ability Schools, where they are focusing on building “community resilience” by o!ering action training and providing research

African Activists Blast Unconventional ExtractionTar sands highlighted in lead-up to UN climate summit in South Africa

Christian Mounzeo, president of Engagement for Peace and Human Rights from Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, speaks at Everyone's Downstream about the negative impacts of tar sands developments in his country. &e conference, which took place in Durban, South Africa, brought together representatives from communities directly impacted by tar sands and other fossil fuel developments around the world. Dru Oja Jay

17!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 E!"'(0

Celestine Akpobari and Sorbarikor Demual, Ogoni Solidarity Forum, speak at Everyone's Downstream about the decades-long battle of the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta against massive oil developments that have led to the destruction of agricultural land, contaminated water and impaired health. Dru Oja Jay

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and investigative skills, said Yusuf.Two members of the Ogoni

Solidarity Forum in the Niger Delta spoke of the longstand-ing community mobilizations against oil development on their land, highlighting the fact that November marks the anniversary of the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Wiwa was a renowned environ-mental and human rights activist put to death by the Nigerian government in 1995 for his outspoken stances and non-violent campaigns, particularly against Shell.

Sorbarikor Demua told of how Ogoni women often bear the brunt of the oil development of their area, since they harvest the land that is often the most dev-astated by oil spills and chemical contamination. "ey also face extreme repercussions at the hands of military and para-military forces sent to punish protesting communities and who use sexual assault and rape as punishment for their activism.

Recently, women protested the impacts of oil development and the lack of resources for the

Ogoni people by going naked. As Demual's colleague Celestine Akpobari stated, it is actions by women such as this that show the desperation and the extent to which they must go to ensure compensation for the destruction of their land.

Taking place for two days and involving 200 delegates just before a major international conference, Meth believes that EDS is necessary as part of the counterbalance to the bureaucratic, government-focused negotiation happening at the opulent Durban International Conference Centre.

A conference like EDS, he said, “gives us a chance to speak in peoples' own language and terms, in a way they understand best.” "e government delegates and representatives of major international non-governmental organizations on the inside at COP17 are often far removed from the realities on the ground, he said, meaning di!erent venues are needed to make concrete, on-the-ground change.

“We shouldn't be concerned or be bothered about COP17,

but [we need to] challenge it for excluding communities that are being most a!ected,” he said, citing the example that there are representatives of the major South African utilities company ESKOM at the table, but that Indigenous communities are not

o#cially represented.

Tim McSorley is an editor with the Media Co-op. He was part of a six-person media delegation who covered COP17 and parallel community-led conferences. For more about COP-17, check out mediacoop.ca/durban.

3,500 engaged people are reading this right now.

for pricing and other information about advertising in The Dominion, email us: info@mediacoop.ca

18 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80B2-$!"--

FFunction

Plan Nord Under the MicroscopePublic involvement in diamond venture ends once gems are found

by Frederic Dubois

MONTREAL—Since the mid 1900s, every man, woman and child living in Quebec has donated the equivalent of $20 towards exploration costs for the province's first diamond mine project. But when a mine was finally discov-ered and the promised rewards for years of the province's investment began to be realized, the Quebec government sold the project to a private company. Not only that, but Quebeckers can expect to shell out even more as the now privately owned mine moves towards production

According to documents obtained by !e Dominion, all that’s left for the public after they invested over $157 million in the Renard Diamond Project is a 37 per cent stake in a private company, and token public representation on the company’s board of directors.

"e diamond mine is today being hailed as a model operation by the Quebec government. But a deeper look into what this model would mean for Quebeckers casts a long shadow over the govern-ment’s economic policies.

For the last seven years, the sun has been shining over Quebec’s mining sector. Between 2009 and 2010, total mining investments in Quebec increased by almost 43 per cent, totaling $2.9 billion. Over the past six months, things have gotten so hot that the skin has started to peel o! the hands of boardroom execu-tives, geologists and international investors. "e key moment came in May 2011 when Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced his now-famous legacy project, the

Plan Nord.

"e good times in the mining industry could last for the next 25 years, if Charest is to have his way. “"e Plan Nord will lead to over $80 billion in investments...and create or consolidate, on average, 20,000 jobs a year,” reads the Plan Nord website. "e idea behind the plan is to "stimulate" the energy, mineral resources, forest and wildlife sectors, as well as those of tourism and "bio-food" produc-tion.

"e Renard Diamond Project is one of 11 mega-mining projects proposed as part of the Plan Nord. Unlike most of the other mining projects, the $675 million Renard project is the only mine venture whose development involved a serious public partnership approach—the rest of the projects are private sector initiatives.

"e Renard Diamond Project got its start in 1996 in the Nord-du-Quebec region, about 600 kilometres north of the great Lac-St-Jean, as a 50-50 joint-venture between Diaquem—a wholly-owned subsidiary of crown corpo-ration Quebec Society for Mining Exploration(SOQUEM)—and Ashton Mining of Canada Inc—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc.

Founded in 1965, SOQUEM is a holdover from the “maitres chez nous” (masters in our own house) economic doctrine which

saw the

creation of many

Quebec-owned corporations. At one

point, SOQUEM was an exploration powerhouse,

employing more than 1,500 people and at the forefront of geologic mapping.

After 45 years in the business, SOQUEM’s mandate has shrunk to supporting specific projects only. In the first quarter of 2011, SOQUEM —now a 50-employee entity—was swallowed up by the mammoth Investissement Quebec (IQ), the Quebec government's investment arm.

Fifteen years down the risky road of exploration, the Renard Diamond Project promoters discovered a field of kimberlite intrusions—volcanic rock known to contain diamonds—with a mineral reserve of 18 million carats. Exploration risks stem from the fact that anomalistic (diamond containing) geological formations are hard to find, and expensive to analyze.

Ashton Mining was bought out and the Renard Project is now under the Stornoway Diamond Corporation flag. “Excluding potential deposits, we evaluate the life duration of the project at at least 25 years,” Ghislain Poirier, Vice President Public A!airs at Stornoway told a local newspaper last winter. "e plan for the mine includes two 100-meter-deep open pit mines, one 600-meter-deep open pit mine and several

underground mines. "e Renard mine would be Quebec’s first

diamond mine.Stornoway released its

conclusive feasibility study in November 2011. According to the company, the mine will begin commercial production by 2016. Mine permits, community hearings and negotiations with the Cree Nation and other local com-munities have yet to be completed.

B eyond the celebratory press releases, the course of events

in the boardrooms and corporate headquarters linked to the deal has been anything but usual. In December 2010, a sudden and unexpected transaction occurred. Just as the public finally stood to make a return on the $57 million it invested in exploration, IQ sold its stake in the Renard project to Stornoway.

"e transaction left IQ with a minority share of Stornoway, and a meager two per cent revenue royalty on net smelter returns on future production. "ree senior IQ administrators joined Stornoway’s 11-member board. IQ also agreed to provide Stornoway with an additional $100 million to fund mine construction.

“"ey're just being nice to the company,” said MiningWatch Canada’s Jamie Kneen.

IQ spokesperson Chantal Corbeil refused to comment on the rationale behind this divest-ment.

“"ey are not allowed to reveal what's being discussed on the board, not even to Cabinet,” said Kneen of the three IQ board members now serving Stornoway. “"e public is not represented in this mining project,” he said.

19!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80 B2-$!"--

A map shows the location of the Renard Diamond Mine within the larger Plan Nord. FFunction

Building an economic strategy as big as Plan Nord around antiquated legislation has led some to speculate that the Quebec government is stuck in a colonial model of development.

Before the Renard mines produce a single diamond, the people of Quebec have already spent $157 million, and been left without representation that will guarantee a return on their investments in the actual mine development. But according to IQ’s Corbeil, the good news is that IQ owns 37 per cent of Stornoway, and if the company is successful, the government will cash in royalties and taxes. Royalties of two per cent on net returns amount to very little. Had the royalty been applied to both net returns and extracted value, it could have amounted to a more significant sum.

Without diving too deep into economic detail, it's worth noting that 100 per cent of exploration costs are tax deductible in Quebec, and a significant portion of them are reimbursable. In other words, beyond the $157 million already committed, additional fiscal incen-tives are handed to Stornoway through tax credits and explora-tion reimbursements.

Diamonds will come out of the ground at the Renard mine site until the company signs an agreement with the Cree of the Otish region. Stornoway is currently negotiating an Impact and Benefits Agreement (IBA) with the Cree Nation of Mistissini and the Grand Council of the Crees.

“"e Cree Nation has adopted a mining policy,” said Cree negotiator Abel Bosum. “"is policy makes clear what our conditions are for supporting a mining project on Cree land. It also sets out who needs to be part of negotiations to make a mining project work: "e Cree Nation, the

local Cree community and/or the Cree users of the land.”

In addition, Route 167 will need to be extended 243 kilome-ters, from the town of Mistissini to the Otish Mountains. Finally, a 165-kilometre Hydro-Quebec transmission line will also have to be built, connecting the Nikamo sub-station to the future Renard sub-station.

Premier Charest has already made an infrastructure announce-ment through which Plan Nord is to pump $287.6 million into Route 167. Stornoway is expected to put $44 million into the pavement e!ort.

Proponents of this infra-structure spending argue that these expenses will also benefit a conservation megaproject, carried

out by the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP) in collaboration with the Mistissini Cree Nation, which plans to establish the 11,000 square kilometre Albanel-Temiscamie-Otish National Park, at the end of Route 167.

"is major northern infra-structure spending bumps public expenditures to $444.6 million.

Figures for the cost of setting the electricity line to power the Renard project are not yet public, as Hydro-Quebec is still in the process of completing its pre-project study. Details of preferen-tial electricity rates—a standard Hydro-Quebec practice—are not available yet either. It is expected, as announced in the Plan Nord, that Hydro-Quebec will pay the

bill. "e exact corridor and final design of the 165-kilometre line, should be ready by the fall of 2012, as confirmed on the phone by Richard Simard, manager of community relations at Hydro-Quebec.

“I can't tell you the cost, I don't have the cost,” the Hydro-Quebec manager told !e Dominion, when pressed for an estimate of total expenditures. “But one thing's for sure,” Simard said. “As far as I can remember, this is the first time that we build such a long line.”

T he Renard mine site is just one project encompassed by

the ambitious Plan Nord, which covers a territory of 1.2 million square kilometers, encompassing

20 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80crown, Cree, Innu, Inuit and Naskapi lands.

“"e Cree support the Plan Nord for now,” said Abel Bosum. But even the largest o#cial Cree organization is not giving the government a blank check on Plan Nord.

“We support it, [on] the condition that we can conclude a reasonable and fair settlement on governance issues, that the Cree vision of the Plan Nord in di!erent sectors—even beyond mining—be taken into account and that we participate in its planning and development in the

respect of the Cree way of life,” Bosum told !e Dominion by phone. Bosum invoked section 22 of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement to underline the fact that his nation, like other northern First Nations, has the right to a review process on major projects, and expects proper consultation.

"e scope of Plan Nord and its potential impacts on rural and Indigenous communities is mind-boggling, as is the money to be made: its release is timed with growing demand and higher prices for precious metals. What may come as a surprise, however, is that the laws and regulations that will guide mining activities under Plan Nord are more than 140 years old.

"e Mining Act of Quebec, first minted in 1880—and almost untouched since—prioritizes mining activity over other types of land use.

“"e law is wrong because it has priority over many other laws on land development,” said Ugo Lapointe of the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec. “What we denounce are the great powers that are given to mining corpora-tions, compared to the power of municipalities, First Nations and citizens."

Quebec’s mining law is

currently under review. A new Quebec-wide standard known as Bill 14 is about to be adopted though it satisfies neither opposition parties nor civil society groups.

If the rules of the game seem old fashioned, consider the royalty regime. "e government recently increased the royalty rate from 12 per cent to 16 per cent of net profit on a mine-by-mine basis: an improvement, it may seem, but only on the surface, since net profits are lowered with account-ing tricks, as the Auditor General of Quebec revealed in 2009.

Building an economic strategy as big as Plan Nord around antiquated rules of the game has led some to speculate that the Quebec government is stuck in a colonial model of development.

“Mining in 2011 continues to be a colonial development, like in 1870,” said Martine Ouellet, Parti Quebecois spokesperson and O#cial Opposition critic on mining and shale gas. “It's pitiful to watch the Liberal Party [of Quebec] perpetuate this colonial development to the advantage of foreign multinationals, instead of to the benefit of the Quebecois.”

"e mass transfer of funds from public to private hands isn’t unique to the Renard Diamond Project. Plan Nord's first action, which covers the years from 2011 to 2016, proposes making $2.1 billion in investments. Of the total, $500 million will be taken from the pockets of IQ and dumped into private sector projects.

"e next months will reveal how much more money will be pumped into the Renard Diamond Project, further calling into question the economic strategies behind Plan Nord.

Frederic Dubois is a reporter and interac-tive documentary maker.

L".."'-

BACK TALK

"What we denounce are the great powers that are given to mining corporations, compared to the power of municipalities, First Nations and citizens."

—Ugo Lapointe, Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec

Relatively pink heartstrings

I like your "pink wash" insight into "Ethical Oil" (“Pink Crude” by Jesse Grass, Issue 79: November/December 2011). What

I love is how Ezra [Levant] and his man/boy servant former Conservative government aide Alykhan Velshi have made support-ing Big Oil Canada's newest charity. Anyone with a heart (or is it heartburn?) needs to throw their money now at Ethical Oil Inc. Alberta is alight with Ezra's violin for Suncor and those siphoning o! Canada's buried black gold. "e boreal forest of the true north can't be stripped o! fast enough for the likes of Levant. Texas burns for our crude, and Ezra wants us to gift it to them, lock, stock and by the barrel. His generosity knows no bounds.

—case biersteeker

T he author wants to critique the Ethical Oil campaign, specifi-cally the portion of the campaign that juxtaposes Canada's

treatment of homosexuals with the treatment of homosexuals in major oil producing countries in the Middle East.

"e author then fails to consider the state of LGBT people in those Middle Eastern countries. In Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and Muslim regions of Nigeria, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. In Bahrain and Qatar, two other major oil exporters, homo-sexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment and torture. "ey will arrest you and either kill you, throw you in jail or whip you for being gay. In contrast, Canada removed some references to homosexuality from an immigration pamphlet and doesn't let gay men donate blood. If you were gay, where would you rather live?

"e author commits a fallacy here, rejecting the legitimacy of comparison because the things to be compared are both flawed. If comparisons didn't matter, there would be no problem with the oil sands because no energy source available to us is completely envi-ronmentally friendly. "e whole reason to not like the tar sands in the first place is because, the argument goes, it's worse! Ditto for the human rights records in Canada and the other countries currently exporting oil.

—Trent Steal

LGBTTIQQuite a mouthful

I fully support the ideal and e!orts of all-inclusive sex education as well as acceptance for the full spectrum of human gender

and sexual expression (“Sex Ed’s Straight Edge” by Kelly Rose Pflug-Back, Issue 79: November/December 2011). However, as an organization and a movement the LGB...Q have a very real problem: the name. "e name LGBTTIQQ has become silly to the point of distraction. You can't name every form of gender/sexual expression any more than you can name every possible color; they're both spectra with infinite nuances. So, pick a name. Something like the “Gender Identity Movement"—GIM for short. Folks will remember it more readily and will take the movement a whole lot more seriously.

—Carlo Delrio

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21!e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80

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F+'"$(! P+*$/0

As Firm as a TreePortraits of a woman in resistance against Canadian miningby James Rodriguez

SAN MIGUEL IXTAHUACAN, GUATEMALA—On July 7, 2010, Diodora Hernandez, a staunch anti-mining activist, was shot point-blank in the right eye.

"e incident took place outside her home in the small

community of San Jose Nueva Esperanza, in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, only a few metres from a fence that delimits Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine.

Hernandez, who lost her right eye as a result of the attack, lives with her daughter Maria and granddaughter Olga. One year after her miraculous recovery, Hernandez’s anti-mining stance and activism remains as steadfast as ever.

“"ey tried to kill me because I do not want to sell my plot of land,” she said while being inter-viewed on the local radio station, "e Voice of the People.

“People around here do not think about the future or their children, but only on the present, the money they can get for the present.”

James Rodriguez is an independent documentary photographer based in Guatemala. He publishes at mimundo.org.

“I am sad because most of my neighbors have sold out and left. But me, hmmm, don’t you worry, I will continue on with the struggle! I am firm as a tree. Standing I am, and standing I will remain.”

Cooking and looking after children are essential parts of Hernandez's day, which now take place under the watchful eye of security guards. ""is is where I was born, and I will die here. Even if I did sell [my plot], where would I go?”

22 !e Dominion, Jan/Feb 2012 — Issue #80C+3$/Heather Meek

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