Tag: dakota access pipeline

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Isolation: the original shame-based solution to human punishment

Is social isolation softening our carrot-and-stick incarceration system?

Residents of Canada first went on lockdown in March of 2020. Since then, the public has felt waves of COVID-19, and felt its impacts on lifestyle and quality of life, as well as legislation. Many compare their homes to prisons, as the mental and physical health implications of social isolation take their toll.

With ten months-and-counting of experience enduring long spells of little-to-no social contact, many missing key holidays and celebrations, as well as collective mourning, have your perceptions of incarceration changed?

Presently, there are countless individuals serving prison sentences for violent crimes, petty crimes, crimes they didn’t commit, or crimes they didn’t understand.

There are people serving sentences by enduring punishment that we, residents enduring social distancing measures, cannot bear.

One first-hand account of solitary confinement taps into our shared suffering — trouble sleeping and spending time meaningfully compounds mental distress.

Those of us who have housemates, friends, and family in close proximity know how valuable these relationships have become in recent times. We stay in touch because, for many of us, we cannot touch. People who are vulnerable to health complications — and their housemates, for that matter — face an impossible dilemma: risk physical health to stay in good mental health, or risk mental health to keep good physical health.

It’s hard to imagine what someone serving a prison sentence might feel, not being able to communicate intimately with friends and family while they serve their sentence, and especially now, while prisons are on lockdown due to COVID-19.

There are people even serving sentences for defending and protecting clean water sources that face threat of contamination for industry interests. It is an incredibly violent thing to incarcerate people, as we are learning, but are we learning fast enough?

The NoDAPL Federal Prisoner Support Committee is an organization committed to empowering convicted Water Protectors by telling individual stories, and teaching the public how to support these individuals by writing letters, learning about their causes, and applying political pressure for legislative reform.

Water Protectors are dedicated to protecting and celebrating water as an essential ingredient of life through peaceful protest, traditional Indigenous ceremony, and legal intervention. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has been a point of dispute for years, drawing international attention to the human rights violations inflicted on the Indigenous people of North America.

We’re spending a lot of time at home. We’re spending a lot of time in isolation, and that impacts our health, as Statistics Canada research has shown.

The Water Protectors serving their sentences, represented by NoDAPL, need connection like anyone else. Connecting and communicating with these individuals empowers their work, and amplifies their cause.

NoDAPL Federal Prisoner Support Committee teaches the public how to reach these individuals as it takes precision and determination to maintain correspondence within the narrow guidelines that prisons uphold.

This matters. Anyone who feels the cold wind coming from loneliness in isolation knows how much a message or phone call means. Imagine correspondence without privacy or agency.

It is important that we make efforts to connect with one another, especially with those who experience additional barriers to connection.

And most pressing in these instances of political imprisonment: why do we incarcerate people for leading the shift of social values, the intended compass of the legal and prison system?

Winter is coming, and it’s going to bring cold winds of isolation. Connection is a warm bath.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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Pipeline mobilization via phone calls

Climate Justice Montreal held their event in the CSU lounge in the Hall building. Photo by Savanna Craig

Water activists held a phone-in day to hold banks and PM Trudeau accountable to divest

A small, yet determined group of environmental activists congregated around a table on the seventh floor of the Hall building to make phone calls to banks and urge them to divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the Trans Mountain Pipeline on Wednesday.

Climate Justice Montreal (CJM), a group that supports climate and environmental justice by virtue of educating, calls to action and standing in unity with communities affected by environmental issues, organized the phone-in.

The event, which began at noon, housed participants at a table located in the Concordia Student Union (CSU) lounge, adjacent to the long, winding line of students waiting for People’s Potato to open.

Callers were offered scripts, which explained why activists would like banks to divest from pipeline projects. The importance of prioritizing the environment and communities threatened by the Trans Mountain and DAPL pipelines was outlined in the scripts as well.

Three Canadian banks are currently funding the DAPL construction—TD Bank, Scotiabank and RBC.

Political representatives and agencies were called to push for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to no longer support the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

“All together, TD gave $2.5 billion to the Dakota Access Pipeline and I don’t think any resistance [for] these pipelines is going to come from the government at this point,” said Maya Provençal, a participant involved with CJM.

“Especially with Donald Trump—he’s very pro-fossil fuel, pro-pipeline—so I think one of our only hopes is to get big banks and big companies to pull their money that they have invested in these pipelines,” said Provençal. “Without that money, the Dakota Access can’t go forward,” Provençal said.

She said she thinks targeting the banks is one of the most effective things activists can do.

“TD is the biggest investor by a lot,” said Provençal, explaining that as the largest funding body of the DAPL, CJM are focusing primarily on targeting TD Bank right now. “I could see us targetting other banks in the future.”

The Trans Mountain expansion project, imposed by Kinder Morgan—an American energy infrastructure company—will enable the construction of a new pipeline to run alongside the existing Trans Mountain pipeline—which runs between Edmonton, Alta. and Burnaby, B.C.

“We have this website where you can find your member of parliament, your representative, by entering your postal code and then we have a script,” said Provençal.

Provençal said Amy Miller, a participant in CJM, sent an email out last week in order to advocate for more mobilization around pipeline projects. This resulted in formulating this event framed around calling TD Bank and political representatives.

“I think sometimes people don’t realize how easy it is to just make an event like this. Really it’s a matter of just pulling a couple of chairs together, having a script, having the numbers organized,” said Miller.

Miller hopes to have mobilization take place each week.

“Whether it’s pickets at different TD Banks every week—which will probably be what’s next—or doing another march, doing another action at TD Bank, we definitely plan on keeping the pressure up,” said Miller.

Provençal said CJM hopes to take on an entire campaign dedicated to bank divestment in the near future. “We’ll see more action around that in the city soon,” she said.

“It’s not about just divesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, but it’s about stopping fossil fuel extraction at the source for all projects,” said Miller. “We can’t have greenhouse gas emissions rise, we can’t have the tar sands continue to expand.”

“It’s 2017, there’s no more time for talk, the time is now—we need to keep it in the ground,” said Miller.

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Resistance rises back up against DAPL

Photo by Savanna Craig.

Activists marched along Ste-Catherine Street, delivering a petition for TD Bank to divest from DAPL

A crowd of approximately 40 people, small but united and loud in their fight against pipelines, gathered in Norman Bethune Square at noon on Feb. 1 to deliver a petition to TD Bank, urging the bank to remove its investments from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The petition had more than 143,000 signatures on it.

“We’re here to honour what’s going on over there in Standing Rock with the Sioux Nation,” said Dan Parker, a representative from Climate Justice Montréal, the group that organized the event.

Parker introduced the event’s first speaker, Sierra Segalowitz, a Native youth ambassador. “I’m Inuit, Dene and half French, and I’ve been involved with these types of things since I was a baby,” Segalowitz said.

Segalowitz recites a speech from Black Elk Speaks. Photo by Savanna Craig.

Segalowitz recited a speech from the book Black Elk Speaks, written in 1932 by John Neihardt, an American writer and poet who often wrote about European-American immigrants and the indigenous peoples they frequently displaced. The speech had been delivered by the Black Elk, an elder from the  Lakȟóta people, which is an indigenous tribe living in North and South Dakota

“If the old camp circle, the sacred hoop of the Lakota, and the old days have been rudely shattered by the machines of a scientific era and if they can be no more in the traditional sense, the universality of the images and dreams must testify to the emergence of a new sacred hoop, a new circle of intense community among Indians far outdistancing the grandeur of former times,” she read.

“He’s not alive, but he predicted this hundreds of years ago,” said Segalowitz, referencing ongoing pipeline conflicts throughout North America, including the one at Standing Rock.

“This was meant to happen. It doesn’t mean it is right, [but] it is happening right now,” said Segalowitz. “In thousands of years, we are the people who are going to be in these history books.”

“We are standing strong and we are standing for our Mother,” said Segalowitz.

Video by Savanna Craig.

Kristian Gareau from Climate Justice Montréal reminded the crowd why they had gathered.

“We’re Climate Justice Montréal, we’re people who fight for the respect of the Earth. We see everything that’s going on around us—it’s very discouraging,” said Gareau.* He said what inspires him and other members of Climate Justice Montréal is seeing the protectors of water and people from First Nations communities all over the continent who are standing up against the constructors and powers behind these pipelines.

This is a solidarity action for indigenous people who are mistreated and have had and continue to have their treaties violated, said Gareau. “We want to make noise and we want to make sure these people are heard.”

Gareau said the demonstrators would march to two TD Bank branches in Montréal to deliver petitions insisting the bank remove its funding from the pipeline project.

Kristen Perry from Climate Justice Montréal told the crowd they were responding directly to a call from Standing Rock that urged activists across North America to petition the banks in their area that are funding the construction of the DAPL.

“We have TD Bank right here in Canada that is the largest funder in Canada of the Dakota Access Pipeline,” Perry told the crowd. “As we’re taking action today, it’s really important to think of the destructive nature of this pipeline and what we’re doing here today to say that we are not okay with that.”

Police gathered outside TD Bank location at Ste-Catherine and Guy. Photo by Savanna Craig.

“You can’t eat money, you can’t drink oil, give it up TD, leave it in the soil,” chanted Parker, along with the crowd.

Representatives from Kahnawake’s People’s Fire marched alongside activists down Guy Street towards their first stop at the TD Bank on the corner of Ste-Catherine West and Guy.

Gareau delivered the petition to representatives at TD, as demonstrators sang together outside the bank, which was heavily guarded by police officers. As Gareau exited the bank, he told the crowd he had informed the bank’s representatives that they do not want TD to fund public money into dangerous and toxic infrastructures that infringe treaty rights.

“City by city, block by block, we stand with Standing Rock,” chanted the crowd as they marched towards Place des Arts, to the TD Bank on Ste-Catherine West and de Bleury.

“They actually had heard about Standing Rock, which is good. I think it’s something that’s been in the media a lot,” Perry told the crowd after delivering the second petition.

 

“We talked about how, as we go into the future, pipelines are not going to be good investments,” Perry said after meeting with the TD representatives. “We’re seeing that the current administration in the U.S. is trying to push through pipelines, but there’s a growing resistance across the world—as you can see with all of the people here today.”

“We’re calling on TD again to take their money out of Dakota Access Pipelines,” said Perry, as she urged participants to close their TD Bank accounts.

Protesters gathered at the TD Bank location on Ste-Catherine West and de Bleury. Photo by Savanna Craig.

“I don’t think the pipelines are good for the Mother Earth,” Segalowitz told The Concordian.

“[Climate Justice Montréal has] three main motives: we do mobilization, like today, we do education—where we give workshops—and then we do direct action,” Parker said. He told The Concordian that, in the three years since he joined Climate Justice Montréal, they have not organized a lot of direct action. However, Parker said recently they have been organizing protests against Line 9, which has a refinery located in Sarnia, Ontario—close to a reserve home to members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation—running all the way to Montréal. Parker said Climate Justice Montréal has been helping indigenous land defenders, such as Vanessa Gray, who shut off a Line 9 valve in December 2015.

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Mobilization against the DAPL strengthens in Montreal

Participants on the Nov. 13 demonstration walk in a criss-cross formation. Photo by Savanna Craig.

Three demonstrations have been held in Montreal in opposition of the DAPL

The sound of drums and singing filled Phillips Square in downtown Montreal on Nov. 13 as participants held hands and walked in a criss-cross formation along the square to raise awareness about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The gathering sought to shed light on the violence directed at protesters in the Standing Rock reserve in North and South Dakota and the threat the proposed DAPL project poses to the environmental state of the land.

This was the third event this week in downtown Montreal in opposition of the DAPL and the lack of human rights extended to protesters in Standing Rock. The previous events were held on Nov. 7 in Victoria Square in downtown Montreal and on Nov. 10 in the Hall building of Concordia’s downtown campus.

“It’s not just only in support of Standing Rock, but the first idea is to bring awareness,” said Jesse Achneepineskum, a participant at the event in Phillips Square. He said there has been a lack of media coverage in Standing Rock, a reoccurring trend for issues concerning indigenous communities.

Jesse Achneepineskum marches towards the banks on Nov. 7. Photo by Savanna Craig,

“I first heard of it through Facebook only,” said Achneepineskum, referring to the treatment of  protesters in Standing Rock. “On Facebook it tends to be shared—news of native people amongst native people.” He said the wave of organized protests in different cities is due to the constant sharing of information on social media platforms such as Facebook.

“People around here started organizing marches and protests to force CBC and CTV to send people to cover the events and to bring awareness to the general public,” said Achneepineskum, adding that in the U.S., the rising tensions in Standing Rock were not adequately covered by American media outlets such as CNN and MSNBC.

The flag referred to as the “Mohawk Warrior Flag” or either the “Unity Flag.” displayed at the DAPL protest on Nov. 7. Photo by Savanna Craig.

Craig Blacksmith, a participant of the Montreal protest on Nov. 13 and member of the Dakota tribe, said if the Indian Act was abolished and indigenous people had control over their land, corporations would not be threatening their land with pipeline projects.

“If we focus on this Indian Act and we get it abolished, it’s going to open up a whole new dialogue,” said Blacksmith. He said this is because removing the Indian Act will enable Indigenous communities to have authority over their land, as opposed to the government. This would result in giving them the power to decide whether or not the pipelines will be allowed to go through their land.

Blacksmith is from Manitoba, however his Dakota tribe is one of the tribes which make up the Sioux Nation—many of whom reside in the Standing Rock reservation. The Dakota tribe is spread across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska.

Participants show support for Standing Rock protesters at Nov. 13 event. Photo by Savanna Craig.

According to Jean-Philippe Warren, a Concordia professor from the department of sociology and anthropology, the DAPL has struck a strong reaction from Montrealers because it ties in with an issue close to home.

“The [DAPL] project is immediately conflated with the TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline,” said Warren. Keystone XL is the official name for the pipeline proposal that includes the DAPL. “Opposing one is opposing the other.”

Warren said people in Quebec are more likely to be against the expanded use of crude oil, regardless of whether they use a car or not. “Quebecers are much more opposed [to] the oil energy because they believe that everything should be electric,” said Warren. “Hydro-Quebec convinced them that hydro-electricity is the best source of energy.”

“In the case of the TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline, Alberta’s or the rest of Canada’s interests do not seem to serve Quebecers’ interests,” said Warren.

On Monday, Nov. 7, Concordia First Peoples studies professor Louellyn White spoke out against the DAPL at a demonstration in Victoria Square, downtown Montreal.

Concordia professor Louellyn White at the Nov. 7 event. Photo by Savanna Craig.

The purpose of the demonstration was to encourage participants to close their accounts with RBC, TD or Scotiabank until these banks remove their investments in the DAPL.

White said the DAPL raises the issue of sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, whose land the pipelines are proposed to run through. She added that, for centuries, their sovereignty has been ignored by governments, states and individuals.

White discussed the Fort Larry Treaty of 1851, an agreement between settlers and people of the Sioux Nation which gave settlers ownership of their land in exchange for protection, food and education for the Sioux people.

White said this treaty has repeatedly been broken. She said none of these promises to the Sioux people were kept. “That land was further and further diminished.”

A separate protest against the DAPL took place in Concordia’s Hall building on the downtown campus on the evening of Nov. 10. Participants chanted “water is life” to express concern for the effects the DAPL will have on the environment, as well as the issues the DAPL pose to indigenous rights.

First Peoples Studies elective class and Indigenous Students Association mobilize in the Hall building on Nov. 10. Photo by Savanna Craig.

This initiative was brought forth by Concordia First Peoples studies professor Donna Goodleaf, the students in her elective class, “Haudenosaunee Peoples” and Concordia’s Indigenous Student Association.

The events  on Nov. 7 and Nov. 10 informed people on how to help protesters involved in the Standing Rock protests. Students in the Indigenous Student Association and Goodleaf’s elective class handed out pamphlets on how you can financially aid protesters in this initiative.

Donations in aid towards the Standing Rock protesters are being accepted to the following address: Sacred Stone Camp, P.O. Box 1011, Fort Yates, N.D. 58538. These donations will be used for food, propane, water, blankets and other supplies.

Climate Justice Montreal shared forms which state the problems with banks investing in the DAPL. The forms indicate how people can close their accounts with their bank as a way to encourage them not to invest in the DAPL.

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