January 18th in Toronto – Unist’ot’en Camp: Exercising Indigenous Sovereignty to Fight Back Against Tar Sands and Fracking

WHERE – OISE, 252 Bloor St W, Rm 5170, Toronto
WHEN – Friday, January 18th, 7pm

Unist’ot’en Camp: Exercising Indigenous Sovereignty to Fight Back Against Tar Sands and Fracking

Info-night and discussion, hosted by camp ally Brett Rhyno.

The Unist’ot’en Camp is a resistance community whose purpose is to protect sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory from several proposed pipelines from the Tar Sands Gigaproject and shale gas from Hydraulic Fracturing Projects in the Peace River Region.

The Unist’ot’en (C’ihlts’ehkhyu / Big Frog Clan) along with other strong uncompromising allies will stop this destructive path, for the future generations, for the biodiversity, and for solidarity with our neighbours living amidst the heavy impacts in the Tar Sands Affected areas in Northern Alberta, and regions heavily affected by Fracking Natural Gas and Shale Oil, as well as communities impacted by Refineries, Pipelines, and Fuel Terminals and Port Expansions.

Attend to learn about what is happening at camp, how you can be in solidarity, and how a cross-continental alliance is being formed to develop pro-active pipeline resistance strategies.

Unist’ot’en solidarity rallies in Ontario

On Tuesday, November 27th there will be at least two rallies in Ontario for the International Day Of Solidarity In Support Of The Unis’tot’en:

Toronto: 11 am. Demo at Royal Bank Headquarters, Bay and Front. Facebook event posting here.

Kitchener-Waterloo: There was a rally at a Royal Bank branch in Waterloo.

Hamilton: Noon at Royal Bank, Jackson Square. Facebook event posting here.

Ottawa: 4 pm at Prime Minister’s Office, Wellington & Elgin St. Facebook event posting here.

This page lists some additional solidarity events — in Canada, and elsewhere.

Call for solidarity actions on Tuesday November 27th

In inspiring resistance this past week, the Unist’ot’en and Grassroots Wet’suwet’en have, yet again, evicted pipelines from their territories!

On November 20th, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Toghestiy intercepted and issued an eagle feather to surveyors from the Can-Am Geomatics company who were working for Apache’s proposed natural gas Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP). In Wet’suwet’en law, an eagle feather is used as a first and only notice of trespass. The surveyors were ordered to leave the territory and the road leading into the territory has been closed to all industry activities until further notice. The materials that were left behind by the work crew are being held until Apache and PTP agree to open up appropriate lines of communication with the Unist’ot’en and grassroots Wet’suwet’en according to the Free Prior and Informed Consent protocol and laws of their unceded territories. The Unist’ot’en are against all pipelines slated to cross through their territories, which include Enbridge Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgans northern proposal, Pembina, and Spectra.

The Unis’tot’en are now calling for solidarity and support actions to reaffirm their position and to amplify the message to Industry and Government that no proposed pipelines will proceed in their territories. There is a call for immediate actions on Tuesday November 27th to ensure that corporations, investors, and governments get a clear message that they have no right or jurisdiction to approve development on Unist’ot’en lands.

Here is how you can get involved for Tues Nov 27:

1. Find a local office near you; it could be a corporate office or a government office. Suggestions include: Encana, Apache or EOG who are partnering in PTP; Royal Bank of Canada or Jarislowsky Fraser Limited who are Encana’s largest investors; or provincial or federal offices.
2. Any action or presence, large or small, at these offices is welcome. Get the message out that there will no pipelines on Unist’ot’en lands and that these pipelines are harmful to the land and the community. These extractive projects are based on a fundamentally destructive colonial and capitalist model that forces profits ahead of Indigenous self-determination and stewardship, destroys and exploits the land and ecosystems, and disregards the safety and health of communities including those who have to work the poisonous jobs in these industries.
3. Please take photos and videos of your action.
4. We have basic flyers and media information available that you can download and use.
5. Spread the word. Share this web link and this FB event

If you can organize an action, please let us know by Sunday November 25th so that we can list it (or do a surprise action!). If you do want to coordinate, please email Harsha at harsha at resist.ca, Toghestiy at toghestiy at gmail.com, and Julien at sesame at riseup.net.

Call For Fracking Ban

A report from Chelsea Vella and Blackburn News

The Council of Canadians is calling on the Ontario government to ban fracking in the province before there are further studies on the impacts.

Fracking is a technique which involves injecting sand, water, and chemicals at a high pressure into rock formations to fracture them and extract natural gas. Council’s Emma Lui says this could have serious long term effect on water resources.

Lui says there is not a safe way to dispose the wastewater and sometimes it is injected back into the ground which has been linked to earthquakes in British Columbia. The call to ban fracking was brought on by news that the Ontario Geological Survey is taking drilling samples from 11 Southern Ontario communities, including Chatham.

(See the original post for a brief audio recording.)

Ontario government quietly drills shale gas formations in the province

Emma Lui on rabble.ca

The Ontario Geological Survey (OGS), an arm of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, released a report yesterday highlighting shale gas potential in the Ordovician Shale formations located in Southern Ontario.

While buried in a 486-page report on the OGS’ Summary of Field Work and Other Activities for 2012, Section 29 on the Potential Ordovician Shale Gas Units in Southern Ontario raises several concerns.

The OGS began planning the drilling program in 2009 which was to “establish the potential for shale gas” and determine whether the sources were “economically viable.” In 2010, the first drilling program conducted in the Kettle Point Formation, located in Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent County, did find some viable sources. Yesterday’s report, however, highlights certain formations of the Ordovician shales – particularly the Rouge River Member of the Blue Mountain Formation and the Collingwood Member of the Cobourg Formation – as having “the best potential for shale gas productive units.”

Council of Canadians delivers buckets of toxic fracking chemicals to Peter Kent

A press release from the Council of Canadians -

Ottawa – The Council of Canadians delivered petitions signed by nearly 10,000 people today who are demanding a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Canada until the federal reviews are complete.

Council of Canadians staff, dressed in hazardous materials suits, attempted to deliver mock buckets of toxic fracking fluids to Environment Minister Peter Kent. The buckets, filled with petitions, highlight the demands of the majority of Canadians calling for a moratorium on fracking because of the potential for water contamination by fracking fluids, the lack of disclosure of fracking chemicals and the lack of a solution to dispose of fracking wastewater. Peter Kent failed to appear to accept the petitions.

Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking,” is a technique to extract natural gas from harder to access unconventional sources trapped in rock formations such as shale gas, coal bed methane and tight gas. Millions of litres of water and thousands of litres of chemicals are injected underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in the rock allowing gas to flow up the well.
“All across Canada people are standing up and fighting fracking in their communities,” says Emma Lui, water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “Communities will continue to do so with or without the support of the federal government. But we hope the government will fulfill their responsibility of conserving and protecting water sources in Canada by placing a moratorium on fracking.”

Global Frackdown – Ontario events

Saturday, September 22nd is the “Global Frackdown to Ban Fracking“, and there will be at least two events in Ontario -

Guelph: 11am, 10 Carden Street -
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=75987

Toronto: 5pm, Mel Lastman Square, 5100 Yonge St., North York -
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/o/1185/t/13125/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=76087

In the lead-up to the day of action, the Council of Canadians delivered nearly 10,000 anti-fracking petitions to Peter Kent (the so-called “Minister of the Environment”) in Ottawa.

On September 22nd there will be many events across many countries — as you can see on this map.

The event in Buffalo will be close to Lake Erie, and the Ontario border – http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=75694