You probably thought we were going to run an editorial denouncing the results of the U.S. presidential elections. To be frank, though, we are exhausted and sick of talking about it. The dirty campaign feels like it lasted a decade and, at The Concordian, we thought it’d be best to focus on another issue.
On Thursday afternoon, our news team reported on a demonstration staged by a group of students and faculty in the mezzanine of the Hall building. Their intent was to protest the expanding of the Dakota Access Pipeline (also referred to as DAPL). The group consisted of individuals from a First Peoples elective class, as well as the Indigenous Student Association at Concordia.
If you haven’t heard about DAPL, then you need to get your head out of the sand and head right over to Google search. The situation is currently unfolding in North Dakota, where protesters are trying prevent the construction of a giant oil pipeline that would go straight through several indigenous territories and severely impact the environment in the regions.
This is why you probably saw a ton of people on social media checking in at Standing Rock, a Hunkpapa Lakota and Yanktonai Dakota reservation located in both North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States. The pipeline runs through this indigenous reservation and threatens the region’s only water supply. Protesters from around North America have gathered at Standing Rock, where they continue to challenge authorities as they wage a defiant fight to protect their rights and lands.
Local police units were using Facebook as a means of tracking and arresting protesters. This triggered a social media movement across the world, where individuals checked in to Standing Rock in an attempt to thwart the authorities.
While we applaud social media users for their efforts, checking in to a location with the click of a button is simply not enough. More needs to be done to send a strong message that a major pipeline which can cause severe environmental repercussions is unacceptable and inhumane.
This is why The Concordian fully supports the efforts made by the First Peoples elective class and the Indigenous Student Association during their protest on Thursday at Concordia. We encourage the rest of the student body to emerge from their hibernating states of disillusionment and mobilize towards the cause.
We also applaud the efforts of the Concordia Student Union and Divest Concordia to push for the university’s divestment from fossil fuel investments. If we are to stop pipelines from being built in the future, we need to move towards sustainable energies that won’t pollute our planet.
We know this week has been shocking and tough to say the least. But we cannot give up fighting for our rights, and the rights of others around the world. Even if you aren’t fully behind stopping DAPL or don’t really understand the situation, we encourage you to educate yourself and get behind a cause you believe in.
In the words of author Stephen King, “get busy living or get busy dying.”
Hundreds take to the streets of Montreal to denounce Canadian banks investing in the DAPL
A group of approximately 100 people gathered in Victoria Square in downtown Montreal on Monday, Nov. 7 to stand in solidarity with the protestors in Standing Rock, an indigenous reservation in both North and South Dakota, against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), and to oppose Montreal banks TD, RBC and Scotiabank for providing investments to the DAPL.
Throat singers and drummers initiate event in Victoria Square. Photo by Savanna Craig.
The gathering, hosted by Climate Justice Montreal, began just after noon. A few First Nations performers initiated the meeting by singing and drumming in a small circle as protesters watched.
“The brutality of the police force out there is unforgivable,” said Kenneth Deer, secretary of the Mohawk Nation in Kahnawake and former publisher and editor of the Eastern Door newspaper in Kahnawake. “There is no need for peaceful protesters, who are just defending their water, defending their land and territory and defending their treaty rights, to be tear gassed, to have rubber bullets being fired at them or bean bag rounds.”
Photo by Savanna Craig.
Deer said everyone has a right to peaceful protest. “All of you here are exercising your right to peaceful protest,” he said to the event participants.
“We’re going back to our days of cowboys and Indians in North Dakota,” he said, referring to the lack of human rights Standing Rock protesters are facing. “The police forces are just playing cowboys and shooting Indians.” Deer said, though the police are not currently using real bullets, they may want to. “They’re absolutely violating the rights of people in Standing Rock,” said Deer.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
He said the United Nations sent down an observer from British Columbia named Ed John, a member of the United Nations Reform on Indigenous Issues, to review the condition of protesters in Standing Rock. According to Deer, John made a report detailing a lack of action taken by the United States government at the federal level towards the treatment of protesters in Standing Rock, which must be addressed. “The United States must be reminded of the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the support from the UN declaration of rights of Indigenous peoples,” said Deer. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a treaty imposed by the UN in 1996, enforcing the equal rights to all humans for the order of freedom, justice and peace.
“If the U.S. does not act on these alarming actions, the rhetoric in the halls of the UN are just more empty and meaningless promises.” He said the United States is the leader of the free world, yet it oppresses the original peoples inside its borders.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
Deer said the pipeline proposal is in violation of treaties of the Sioux people, who currently obtain land known as The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. This is one of the six reservations they currently have power over within both North and South Dakota.
Louellyn White, a Mohawk from Akwesasne and an associate professor of First Peoples Studies at Concordia University, said the situation in Standing Rock is really frustrating, devastating and emotional. “I’ve had friends at Standing Rock—friends who were there when the dogs came,” said White.
Concordia professor Louellyn White discusses sovereignty issues of the Sioux people. Photo by Savanna Craig.
White said often, the issues lie with sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and the sovereignty of First Nations peoples. “That sovereign status has been ignored by centuries from government, from individuals, from states,” said White. She said there has also been a lack of nation-to-nation consultation regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline.
White said the power over their land was challenged by the Fort Larry Treaty of 1851, which set boundaries for the Great Sioux Nation, as settlers took some of their land. She said this treaty has repeatedly been broken and the land has since greatly diminished. “The provisions of that treaty said, ‘in exchange for use of your land, we will protect you from white settlers and we will provide annuities—education, food,’” said White. “None of that happened.That land was further and further diminished.”
Photo by Savanna Craig.
“What people are protecting today is that unceded territory—they never willingly relinquished their rights to that land,” said White. She said the people of Standing Rock are also standing to protect the burial grounds of the Sioux People.
“None of this is new to Indigenous peoples who have been fighting for centuries against outright genocide, colonialism at the hands of those who want to marginalize and oppress, and those who want to wipe us off the face of the Earth in the name of progress, capitalism, greed,” said White.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
“But we are still here, and we are here because of the Indigenous laws and the knowledge we have that instruct us on how to live in harmony with the earth,” White said. “Those instructions acknowledge that we are connected to all living things.” She said this view goes far beyond the typical Hollywood portrayal of Indigenous peoples.
“It’s about oil, but it’s also not respecting treaty rights,” said Tama Sandor, a participant of the Montreal protest. “It’s so amazing that there’s enough momentum and feeling of empowerment at this time that they’re resisting,” she said. There are much similar things happening in our province, she said, considering the proposal of the Energy East Pipeline which will run through Montreal.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
As the march began, the gathered crowd was much larger than it was when the event first started. A crowd of almost 300 people followed the assembly, lead by Indigenous people, some of whom were drumming, singing, burning sage and holding a sign saying “We stand with Standing Rock.”
“We stand, we stand, we stand for Standing Rock,” protesters chanted as they marched from Victoria Square to the intersection of René Lévesque and Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, where TD, RBC and Scotiabank branches are located. These three Canadian banks have given investments to Enbridge towards the DAPL.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
The event concluded in front of RBC, as participants dispersed into either of three banks they had an account with, to close their accounts until the bank removed their investments towards the DAPL.
Protesters also gathered to oppose the fact Canadian banks are investing in the pipeline. “Banks should not be funding human rights violations,” said Deer.
Photo by Savanna Craig.
Cathy Inouye, a speaker at the event, said RBC has invested $341 million towards the DAPL, while TD invested $365 into the pipelines.
Participants lined up outside of RBC to close their bank accounts in protest of RBC investing in the DAPL. Photo by Savanna Craig.
Climate Justice Montreal handed out forms at the protest and shared a copy on the event’s Facebook page that people can present to their bank manager or teller in order to withdraw from their bank invested in the DAPL. The form outlines the issues concerning the building of the DAPL—describing the lack of human rights protesters are facing, how it infringes sacred indigenous land and the environmental implications the pipelines will cause. Forms are available online through Climate Justice Montreal.
Chants filled the mezzanine of the Hall building Thursday afternoon as students shouted “Water is life, water is life, water is life!” to spread awareness about the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
First Peoples Studies elective class and Indigenous Student Association mobilized in the mezzanine of the Hall building. Photo by Savanna Craig.
A few dozen of the students who gathered on Nov. 10 were part of a First Peoples studies elective class, titled “Haudenosaunee Peoples,” that had decided to use their class time to spread awareness about the negative impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which if installed, would run approximately 1,886 kilometres, expanding a new pipeline from a North Dakota oil refinery to Patoka, Illinois and carry an estimated 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Members of the Indigenous Student Association and First Peoples Studies both collaborated to initiate this event. Photo by Savanna Craig.
Donna Goodleaf, the instructor of the elective class and a First Peoples studies professor, said the mobilization was a collaboration between her elective class and Concordia’s Indigenous Student Association. She said the purpose was “to support our brothers and sisters in North Dakota.”
Goodleaf said DAPL does not respect Indigenous land rights, as the pipeline would run through sacred Indigenous territory. She also discussed the violation of human rights towards protestors at Standing Rock—stating that they were being attacked with rubber bullets and tear gassed.
Participants bared posters in protest and pamphlets to hand out with education on the pipelines and how to help DAPL protestors. Photo by Savanna Craig.
“[Due to] what’s happening over there, we’re going to be affected [here],” said Goodleaf. She said pipelines are already directly affecting communities worldwide, referencing the Energy East Pipeline. However, she said Canadians are currently being distracted by what is happening in North Dakota. Goodleaf said we have a responsibility to be educated on all pipeline projects imposed in the U.S. and in Canada, and to spread awareness about what is happening inside and outside of our communities when it comes to pipelines.
“There are science communities sending probes to Mars, a planet that’s 55 million kilometres away from Earth—and here we’re not solving any problems on our own planet,” said Nicolas Athanassiou, a Concordia environmental geography student in the class. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Some participants stood out front of the escalator to grab the attention of those leaving the building. Photo by Savanna Craig.
“We are still using fossil fuel technology—this technology is over 150 years old,” said Athanassiou.
“Water is life for everyone. People in North Dakota, they’re not only fighting for themselves, they’re fighting for everyone,” said Athanassiou. “The vast majority of people don’t see that—they’re too busy with their jobs.”
Kayla Ali-Joseph, a student in First Peoples studies, said although she is not an Indigenous person, as a black woman she feels she has a connection to the marginalized group of Indigenous people affected by this issue.
A list was created encouraging people to sign their ideas of alternatives to DAPL. Photo by Savanna Craig.
There are many mobilizations against the DAPL in the city of Montreal, said Tina Petawabano, a member of the Cree community and a student at Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs, minoring in First Peoples studies. On Monday, a mobilization took place downtown as community members gathered in Victoria Square to speak and march in solidarity with activists in Standing Rock and to denounce banks TD, RBC and Scotiabank from their investments in the DAPL. Another protest in opposition of the DAPL will take place this Sunday, Nov. 13, in Phillips Square at 1 p.m.
“I think it’s important to spread the word and also to encourage everyone to be aware,” said Petawabano. She urges people to read and educate themselves on the pipeline issue.
“Our planet doesn’t have too much longer,” said Nicolas Anthanassiou, photographed holding the sign at the left bottom. Photo by Savanna Craig.
Students involved in the mobilization in the Hall building initiative handed out pamphlets with information about the pipeline and how to help aid supporters at Standing Rock. Suggestions included spreading awareness in public or private conversations or through social media, and sending donations to the people at Standing Rock—to the address of Sacred Stone Camp, P.O. Box 1011, Fort Yates, N.D. 58538.
First Nations communities are rallying the public to join them in defending the land from the North Dakota Pipeline
On Sept. 13, Divest Concordia and the Concordia Student Union (CSU) invited three Indigenous activists to discuss the effects of climate change and why they oppose oil companies, which they say are destroying their communities.
The speakers included Vanessa Gray, a youth activist from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ont., and Kiona Akohserà:ke Deer and Onroniateka Diabo, who are both from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. Akohserà:ke Deer and Diabo recently returned from Standing Rock, where protests over the North Dakota Pipeline are taking place.
The discussion began as Gray outlined the challenges facing the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community. She said the area is surrounded by over 60 high-emitting facilities which make up over 40 per cent of Canada’s petrochemical industry. Even then, it is “impossibly hard,” she said, to mobilize the 800 residents against climate change.
“Climate change is not the subject people want to talk about in Sarnia,” she said. “In a place where education is shared—let’s take Concordia for example—talking about climate change might be easier than [in] a place where everyone’s livelihood is based off [gas companies like] Shell or Suncor.”
Companies that are not being held accountable for negligence are damaging the environment, said Gray, and the population is also affected by it.
According to Gray, thirty per cent of women in Aamjiwnaang have experienced miscarriages or stillbirths within their lifetime. “This is just based on where they live—not based on diet or what the mother is doing,” she said.
In an ongoing court case, Gray said she is facing heavy charges for her role in the December shutdown of Line 9—a pipeline with the capacity to carry 300,000 barrels of oil a day between Sarnia, Ont. and Montreal. This year, the pipeline turned 40 years old.
“We cannot survive a pipeline rupture like Line 9 because there’s no way of cleaning it up. This is why I’m facing life in prison—because there is no other choice at this point,” Gray said. “It’s just one of the many issues that connects us all. It connects me to you, because this pipeline starts in my backyard and ends here [in Montreal].”
After Gray, Akohserà:ke Deer shared what changes she recently noticed taking place in her Kahnawake community, and what she had learned since returning from Standing Rock.
She said she had been approached by young people outside the community who were looking for a way to work together. A lot of the elders are still reluctant to welcome those not of Indigenous descent, Akohserà:ke Deer said, however claiming she believes her generation is more open.
She further encouraged people to get the word out via social media, about the social injustices facing Indigenous communities not just locally, but globally as well.
For anyone looking to get directly involved, Akohserà:ke Deer said: “Try to educate yourselves a little bit before you walk into somebody else’s community. There’s different protocols everywhere. In Kahnawake, how we mobilize is completely different from how they mobilize now in Standing Rock.”
