Winnipeg, May 4, 2012: Ta’Kaiya Blaney speaking at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House in Winnipeg about the need to oppose the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Project. Photo: Paul S. Graham

One of the youngest passengers on the Yinka Dene Alliance Freedom Train is Ta’Kaiya Blaney, 11, of Sliammon First Nation in British Columbia. I don’t believe I have seen a more articulate, self-possessed, and inspiring child in my life.

She spoke in Winnipeg last night, at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House, about the struggle to stop the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline. Her presentation was impressive enough, but then she performed “Shallow Waters,” a song she co-wrote with her singing instructor, Aileen De La Cruz, and the audience was entranced.

“Shallow Waters” could become the anthem for all who love and seek to protect the Earth. And Ta’Kaiya Blaney? Well, judge for yourself. She could become pretty much anything she chooses.

Important Links

• Yinka Dene Alliance
• Yinka Dene Alliance Freedom Train
• Yinka Dene Alliance Freedom Train Petition

See also

• Video: Tar Sands Pipelines & Tankers
• Video: Yinka Dene Alliance Freedom Train Winnipeg News Conference

UPDATE: After posting the first video I went to a Yinka Dene Alliance rally at the historic junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Ta’Kaiya was one of the featured speakers. Here she performs “Carried Away” – which is both a lament for the loss of the natural environment and a call to action. You can find the lyrics on her web site.

Winnipeg, May 4, 2012: Hereditary Chief Tsodih of the Nak’azdli First Nation speaking at a news conference at Circle of Life Thunderbird House. Photo: Paul S. Graham

The Yinka Dene Alliance is on a cross country mission to tell Canadians why they have decided to refuse the construction of the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline across their land. They arrived on VIA Rail last night and held a news conference this morning at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House in Winnipeg. Mainstream media response was underwhelming; it appears that most were distracted by Jim Flaherty’s visit to the Winnipeg Mint to watch the last shiny copper come off the assembly line today. Oh, those shiny pennies!! Oh, how bedazzling for the media!

Because most of the mainstream media declined the invitation to participate, you and your friends are unlikely to find out what was said — unless you watch this video and share it widely.

If you don’t have 52 minutes, here’s an interview I recorded last night at Union Station with Hereditary Chief Na’Moks.

As a part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 in Winnipeg, Paul Burrows and Cheryl-Anne Carr discussed the impact of colonialism on the indigenous peoples of Canada and Palestine. The similarities are disturbing and striking.

The event was sponsored by:

• Students Against Israeli Apartheid
• Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
• CanPalNet (Winnipeg)
• Independent Jewish Voices (Winnipeg)

Winnipeg, Feb. 14, 2012: Protesters pause outside the Department of Indian Affairs in Winnipeg to sing and dance during the Men's Gathering and Unity Walk for Missing and Murdered Women. Photo: Paul Graham

Winnipeg, February 14, 2012: A group of aboriginal men held a march to show solidarity with the families of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. While the march was organized by men, there were no restrictions on who could attend – all were welcome – and there was a good turnout of men, women and children of all ages.

Feb. 14, 2012: Protesters outside the Law Courts Building in Winnipeg during the Men's Gathering and Unity Walk for Missing and Murdered Women. Photo: Paul Graham

The march began at the corner of Carlton Street and Portage Avenue, the site of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and wound through downtown Winnipeg, stopping at the Department of Indian Affairs, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Law Courts Building, before ending up at the Manitoba Legislative Building. Despite the marked police presence (several squad cars, a helicopter overhead), the marchers remained peaceful and good spirited. I use the word “despite” because it was clear the marchers would have preferred the cops to be putting their energies into catching killers and finding missing women.

While some estimates put the number of missing and murdered women at 600, no one really knows. What is clear is that not nearly enough is being done to locate these women and to stop the carnage.

Feb. 14, 2012: Protesters in front of a symbolic hearse at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg during the Men's Gathering and Unity Walk for Missing and Murdered Women. Photo: Dwayne Crowe

Here are some links that can help you understand this issue in more depth:

• Native Women’s Association of Canada – http://www.nwac.ca/
• Sisters in Spirit – http://www.sistersinspirit.ca/index.htm
• Red Power United – http://www.redpowerunited.com/

And here is my video report.

Nov. 8, 2011: 300 Winnipeggers demonstrated at the Manitoba Legislature and the Winnipeg Remand Centre to urge the Manitoba Government to join Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador in opposing the Harper government’s omnibus crime bill, misleadingly titled the Safe Streets and Communities Act (aka Bill C-10). Their key message, “time does not stop crime” rebutted the government’s contention that locking up more offenders for longer periods was an effective crime prevention technique.

As I noted in an earlier post, the John Howard Society of Manitoba estimates Canadians will pay $2 billion annually to cover the costs of the bill, which calls for mandatory minimum sentences for a wide range of crimes regardless of individual circumstances. While this will trigger a huge increase in the number of inmates and a prison construction boom, it will do nothing to address the root causes of crime, nor will it lead to the rehabilitation of offenders.

Speakers:

• John Hutton, Executive Director, John Howard Society of Manitoba
• Shaun Loney – Executive Director,  BUILD
• Cora Morgan, Executive Director, Onashowewin
• Tracy Booth, Executive Director, Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba
• Jacquie Nicholson, Literacy Coordinator, John Howard Society of Manitoba
• Alex Paterson, Occupy Winnipeg

The protest was sponsored by:

• BUILD Winnipeg
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Canadian Federation of Students
• Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba
• Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba
• Initiatives for Just Communities
• Occupy Winnipeg
• Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin (OPK)
• Mennonite Central Committee of Manitoba
• School of Social Work, Université de Saint-Boniface
• Social Planning Council of Winnipeg
• Southern Chiefs Organization
• William (Bill) VanderGraff, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

For more information about C-10, contact the John Howard Society of Manitoba. And let your MP know what you think.

See also:

• Eric the Great Hammers Bill C-10
• 3 Reasons to kill Bill C-10

Despite its well established habit of electing social democratic governments, Winnipeg has claimed some dubious honors — “Murder Capital of Canada” and “Child Poverty Capital of Canada” to name two of the most disturbing. Even though we have had 11 years of NDP government to undo the damage of Gary Filmon’s Conservatives, both poverty and crime are well entrenched in Manitoba, especially in Winnipeg.

According to the 2011 Child and Family Poverty Report Card, issued by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg:

• 92,650 children in Manitoba live in families under the poverty threshold
• 29,000 children in Manitoba live in families with annual incomes insufficient for meeting basic needs
• 29,563 Manitoban children use food banks each month because their families cannot afford to purchase the necessary food they require
• 59,734 Manitobans accessed Employment and Income Assistance
• The richest 20% of Manitoban families have more total income than the poorest 60% of the population

The Council says these statistics have not changed significantly since 1989, the year the House of Commons pledged to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.

What is to be done? According to the Manitoba Green Party, 80 per cent of all expenditures on social assistance programs are consumed by government bureaucracy. They proposed, in the last provincial election, to replace welfare benefits with a Universal Basic Income benefit, payable to all Manitobans, that would ensure no one slipped below the poverty line. The idea has merit and I hope the Greens continue to explain and promote it.

Yet another group of Manitobans proposes a package of measures they call a “Justice Charter to End Poverty in Manitoba.” I’ve included it at the end of this piece.

They also hold an annual event called the Four Directions Walk to End Poverty in which four contingents begin their walk on the outskirts of town and converge on the Manitoba Legislature. They held their fourth such walk on Saturday, Oct. 22. Naturally, I brought my video camera.

Justice Charter to End Poverty in Manitoba

We the people of Manitoba, seeing the growing gap between the wealthy and people in need, the working poor, and discriminated groups want to act in a timely manner to reverse the situation, to provide for people with needs and support the right for everyone to contribute to society to the best of their ability. To this end we make these demands and will work to make them a reality:

Housing must be a right and a comfort, not a constant crisis!

• End subsidies to private landlords.
• Establish stricter rent controls.
• Enact a Tenant Bill of Rights.
• Build and maintain public housing to the standard building code.
• No utility cut-offs; establish a panel with legal power to require landlords to pay.

Universal health care for all, for every need!

• Expand medicare into a comprehensive health care system focusing on prevention.
• Extend medicare to cover all essential needs such as eye, drug, dental, ambulance and prosthetics.
• Reduce pollution from mining and manufacturing, especially next to low income neighborhoods.

Jobs are a human right. Create good-paying jobs for all!

• Create jobs through a massive investment in public housing, a public child care program, and conversion to a “green” economy.
• Increase the minimum wage to $14 an hour.
• Quality job creation by ensuring access to education, ending tuition fees, free student housing, education in Aboriginal and any other language where numbers warrant.
• Access to better jobs – reduce the work week with no loss in pay, add paid vacation days and reduce the pension age for women to age 60.
• End the Foreign Temporary Worker program, give these workers full labour rights and make them immigrants to Canada, if they so choose.

Provide for those in need!

• Introduce a Guaranteed Liveable Income, above the poverty line and indexed to inflation.
• Improve special needs benefits and introduce a fast appeals process with free advocacy services.
• A public, high quality, free child care program employing well-paid early childhood development professionals.
• Establish a hot breakfast program for children in schools.
• For injured workers, establish a fast and free appeals process independent of the Workers Compensation Board. Provide free legal services and always respect the right to appeal.
• Establish a Manitoba pension credit plan funded by payroll deductions, a surtax on corporate income to top up pensions above the poverty line and an inheritance wealth tax.
• Establish a federally-chartered, publicly-owned bank that does not discriminate against people in poverty, is located in low-income areas, and provides free or nonprofit cheque cashing services and international fund transmittals.
• Establish a province-wide, free and publicly-owned handi-transit service for people with disabilities.
• Establish price controls for essential foods throughout Manitoba.

End racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms!

• Support immediate settlement of Aboriginal land claims and emergency action to end housing, health care and education inequality.
• Take steps to recognize Aboriginal nations on a new basis in Canada, including full national rights and equal nation to nation relations.
• Introduce immediately affirmative action hiring with mandatory quotas for Aboriginal people, people of colour, women and people with disabilities in both the public and private sector.
• Job pay equity for all workplaces.
• Replace the present legal system of retribution and punishment with principles of restorative justice – restitution and reconciliation; include “ability to pay” as a consideration for sentencing people to jail for nonpayment of fines.
• Ban discrimination based on social or mental health conditions in the Human Rights Code.
• Introduce a Manitoba Bill of Rights based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), adding protections against all forms of sexism.

Reform the democratic system

• Establish proportional representation so that people will vote for what they want and so that every person’s vote will count.
• Pay Legislators the average worker’s wage and benefits in Manitoba.

The Justice Charter is for discussion by all Manitobans. The annual Four Directions Walk is Winnipeg’s largest annual anti-poverty activity. It is organized to encourage discussion of the ideas in this Charter. We invite groups representing Aboriginal peoples, women, workers, youth and students, people of colour, people with disabilities, injured workers, the working poor, people living in poverty, people of all faiths and nonbelievers – all supportive groups:

• To establish a Four Directions Walk in other Manitoba communities.
• To discuss the Charter and send us your ideas.

Contact us if you would like to receive information on the annual Walk, held on a Saturday close to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17).

Four Directions Walk Committee
Email: fourdirectionswalk@changetheworldmb.ca
Phone (204) 792-3371.

Oct. 15, 2011: Scenes from Occupy Winnipeg – and a reminder that what is now called Canada was occupied long before by the aboriginal peoples of this part of the world. It is time the descendants of the Europeans who took the land from the people who were here first do a much better job of sharing it with today’s First Nations.

Marchers in Saskatchewan in July 2008, in the "Walk for Missing Sisters" to raise awareness about missing aboriginal women, children and men. Photo: Native Women's Association of Canada

It is tragically ironic on this day, declared by the United Nations to be “for the elimination of violence against women,” to read that the UN has called on Canada to properly investigate the disappearances and murders of over 500 aboriginal women that have occured since 1980.

According to a Canadian Press article, in today’s Winnipeg Free Press

The United Nations is calling on the Harper government to investigate why hundreds of deaths and disappearances of aboriginal women remain unsolved.

It’s asking Ottawa to report back in a year on the status of more than 500 cases that “have neither been fully investigated nor attracted priority attention, with the perpetrators remaining unpunished.”

The UN committee on the elimination of discrimination against women wants Canada to “urgently carry out thorough investigations” to trace how and why the justice system failed.

A federally funded $5-million study by the Native Women’s Association of Canada concludes that 510 aboriginal girls and women have vanished or been murdered since 1980. It calls for an emergency strategy.

This report from the UN is more evidence that the failure to investigate these disappearances is part of a larger, systemic failure to address violence against women, generally. According to the article

The UN committee also wants Ottawa to set minimum standards for welfare to better protect the most vulnerable citizens across Canada. And it raises alarms about lack of shelters for battered women, and Conservative government cuts that wiped out the Court Challenges Program — funding that helped advance minority rights.

Worldwide, according to a UN factsheet,

The most common form of violence experienced by women globally is physical violence inflicted by an intimate partner. On average, at least one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by an intimate partner in the course of her lifetime.

This two-page factsheet is a grim litany of the most abominable crimes against woman that contains disturbingly little on what is being done to end them.

Violence against women is so pervasive that it is easy to feel overwhelmed by it all and seek solace in the knowledge that we are not directly involved in harming women. However, as Albert Einstein reportedly observed:

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

So, if you are not already involved, start doing something about it by learning about the aboriginal girls and women who have vanished or been murdered since 1980. You can begin at Missing Native Women.ca. You can help hold Harper accountable by signing a petition, here. And you can get a swack of info at Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action.

And then there’s that matter of the war, where we are helping the Americans save the women and girls of Afghanistan, by dropping bombs on them . . .