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CAHUCOPANA meets with IACHR Commissioner Andrea Pochak, greets new PBI-Colombia field volunteers

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia has tweeted: “The IACHR [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] meets with @CAHUCOPANA [the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia] demanding guarantees in response to the prolonged humanitarian crisis suffered by campesino (peasant) communities in Northeast Antioquia.”

This followed a CAHUCOPANA tweet that said: “#IACHRInColombia #MedellinAntioquia. Campesino leader @carlosnordeste [Carlos Morales] expresses the humanitarian crisis that the campesino communities of #RemediosSegoviaAnt are suffering in #HumanRights, to Commissioner Andrea Viviana Pochak, Rapporteur on #HumanMobility of the IACHR.”

Additionally, CAHUCOPANA has posted: “#Barrancabermeja #TerritorialContext #PeaceBrigades. In the facilities of the regional office of Cahucopana in the city of Barrancabermeja, we received the visit of the new brigadistas of Peace Brigades International – Colombia Project where we socialised the territorial context and included the space for the social work interns of the University Institute of Peace to present the characterisation of the sub-regions of Northeast Antioquia and Magdalena Medio, work addressed by the future professionals in their academic practices. We welcome the brigadistas and offer our willingness to walk together for our territory. #NortheastAntioquia #UniPeace”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (CAHUCOPANA) since 2013.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc at meeting with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Buenaventura

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia has posted: “We accompanied @Nomadesc [the Association for Social Research and Action] in a meeting with @CIDH [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] in Buenaventura, to follow up on the ‘civic strike’ agreements. It is urgent to overcome impunity, and provide guarantees to the territory and those who inhabit it.”

The PBI-Colombia social media post follows a post from Nomadesc that says: “In compliance with the agreements of the civic strike to live with dignity and peace in the territory, the on-site Commission @CIDH arrives in Buenaventura. Among the urgent requests is the overcoming of impunity and the protection of life, territory and culture.”

In a media statement, the IACHR announced it: “will conduct an official visit to Colombia from April 15 to 19, at the invitation of the State. It will be his first on-site visit to the country since 2012. The purpose of the visit is to observe the impacts of different forms of violence on the human rights situation, with special attention to the ethnic-racial and gender dimensions. To this end, it will focus on two main aspects: a) the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement and b) citizen security, from the perspective of the various manifestations of violence and the state’s response to this problem.”

2017 Civic Strike

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has explained: “In 2017, [there was] a massive civic strike—also known as a general strike—in Buenaventura, home to Colombia’s key port on its Pacific coast, to protest the city’s deepening socioeconomic and human rights crisis. For three weeks in May, one hundred and fourteen social organizations took over the streets, holding protest marches, community kitchens and cultural festivals, effectively shutting down Colombia’s most important trading hub.”

In June 2017, WOLA highlighted: “The initial response of the government was to violently repress and attack protestors, who were non-violent and included women, the elderly, and children. The Civic Strike Committee reported multiple instances of excessive use of force by the anti-riot police ESMAD. Numerous videos and photos support these claims. The ombudsman’s office reported 91 complaints of excessive use of force by ESMAD, of which 39 were reported to the Attorney General’s Office due to their severity.”

While many promises remain unfulfilled, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has noted: “The strike forced the Colombian government to negotiate an agreement to provide critical public services that would serve the entire community. Organizers agreed to suspend the strike in exchange for a list of demands that included safe drinking water and basic sanitation infrastructure, health care coverage for medical procedures and traditional medicine, access to quality public education, justice and reparations for victims of the conflict, and a community consultation process for land use planning.”

2021 National Strike

Nomadesc was also active during the National Strike in 2021 that also saw police violence against peaceful protests.

In March 2023, PBI-Colombia highlighted: “Almost two years after the 2021 National Strike, the high-ranking members of state security forces investigated for serious human rights violations committed during the repression of protests remain in total impunity. Of the 3,169 criminal acts reported, the Prosecutor General’s Office only attributed 65 cases to the state security forces, of which 11 were archived and, to date, there have been no convictions. Meanwhile, 230 young people are being prosecuted for leading the protest.”

The recommendations from the IACHR from their June 2021 working visit to Colombia can be read here.

Bahia Malaga

Earlier this year, on January 23, Nomadesc also tweeted: “#SOS We reject all violent actions and REQUEST @CorteIDH [Inter-American Court of Human Rights] to attend to the precautionary measures that are in process and we demand [Colombian president] @petrogustavo [and vice-president] @FranciaMarquezM to speak out and act immediately with REAL AND EFFECTIVE protection measures.”

Now, just prior to the visit to Colombia, the IACHR ordered precautionary measures for this community.

La Silla Vacia reports: “[The IACHR] ordered the Colombian State to take precautionary measures to safeguard the life and integrity of a group of inhabitants of the community council of the town of La Plata, Bahía Málaga, in Valle del Cauca. There is risk for 13 leaders. According to the IACHR, territorial authorities, human rights defenders, and leaders of this community are at risk due to the operations carried out there by armed organizations, and the actions of the State have been insufficient. Last January, they denounced the incursion of an unidentified group, indiscriminate shootings and threats of kidnappings, and since then the violence has intensified.”

The IACHR has ordered the State to: “Guarantee security conditions for these leaders to return to their territory after being displaced; Implement protective measures against future threats, intimidation, harassment, and other acts of violence; Agree on the measures to be taken with the affected communities; Inform the IACHR of the measures taken to protect this population.”

The IACHR media statement on the precautionary measures can be read here.

On July 3, 2022, a delegation of Canadian public sector labour activists along with the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project and PBI-Canada visited the island of La Plata off the coast of Buenaventura and heard from the Afro-Colombian community of Bahia Malaga on the threat of “conservation” to ancestral and collective rights.

Celeita on extractive mega-projects

Berenice Celeita, the president of NOMADESC, commented in Rebelión a few weeks ago: “The situation of human rights and violence has escalated in the last year and a half and the conflict in the Pacific, from Panama to Ecuador, has the same structural causes that are centred on the fact that we are in the most biodiverse place per square centimetre of the earth, the conflicts are not just a group of madmen who went out to shoot each other, and who change their names every year, there is a historical structure that shares unity of command, unity of action and important interests.”

Photo: Celeita in Ottawa, October 2023.

Celeita also noted: “We have 14 mega-projects that are in operation, curiously in the same places where people have been removed from their territories, at this moment there is an open violation of individual and collective rights.”

Celeita further specifies that there are hundreds of concessions to mining companies, carbon credits, and the expansion of the port of Buenaventura that generates new processes of dispossession.

The PBI-Colombia Project has accompanied NOMADESC since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeita since 1999.

Ottawa Police Service receives $50 million in federal budget, intends to create a “permanent Special Events Team”

By
Brent Patterson
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CBC reports: “The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) will receive $50 million in federal funding over the next five years to enhance security near Parliament Hill. The proposed funding, to be dispensed in equal $10-million annual payments beginning in 2024-2025, will help ‘bolster the Ottawa Police Services’ presence around the Parliamentary campus,’ according to the 2024 federal budget unveiled Tuesday.”

“In a report to the Ottawa Police Services Board last month, OPS said it continued to experience ‘significant expenditure pressures due to major events and demonstrations’ [including the] ‘demonstrations related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’.”

The CBC article adds: “While the funding is specifically aimed at bolstering the local police presence near Parliament Hill [in what is known as the Parliamentary Precinct], how the money is spent will be left to the discretion of OPS.”

New provincial funding too

CBC further notes: “The province has also promised the city $48 million over three years to enhance public safety. Of that, $20 million is contingent on receiving that federal funding for ‘national protest event response and public safety’.”

Concerns about the OPS and Ottawa By-law Services

On March 26, the advocacy group Horizon Ottawa issued a media release that states: “Speakers from various local organizations advocated for a mutual goal: to demand the city uphold the right to protest in response to over $23,000 worth in tickets leveraged against activists and protesters in recent months.”

Photo: Sarah Abdul-Karim of the Palestinian Youth Movement. Photo by Ottawa Citizen.

Their statement adds: “In recent months, Ottawa By-law and Ottawa Police Service have ramped up tickets for megaphone use against Queer and Trans defence protesters, picketers and those protesting the federal government’s policies on Palestine, including Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden.”

Hassan Husseini, an organizer with Labour 4 Palestine in Ottawa, has also stated: “I can tell you we’ve got individual police officers pushing and shoving young women demonstrators. And in one instance, when I confronted the police officer, I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘She pushed me first.’ Completely childish […] behaviour by the police in trying to intimidate our community.”

February 4 incident

The Fulcrum adds: “Both Husseini and [Sarah] Abdul-Karim [of the Palestinian Youth Movement] point to a recent incident where six police officers and bylaw followed two young women into an underground parking lot to ticket them. Bystanders immediately stood up for the women by calling the police out on the intimidation tactic, and ultimately no charges were issued.”

January 28 incident

The Palestinian Youth Movement has posted: “We’ve all seen the distressing footage from last week’s protest: police officer Craig lunged at protesters to target an individual who was simply chanting. This resulted in Craig hitting one of our community marshals. The Ottawa Police’s attempts to silence and intimidate protestors are shameful and must be addressed before they escalate further.”

OPS to develop a “permanent Special Events Team”

Notably, CTV adds: “New Chief Eric Stubbs and his staff have been working on creating a ‘permanent Special Events Team’ to plan and manage events and demonstrations in Ottawa. A report for the March meeting of the Ottawa Police Services Board said the team would ‘ensure community safety prior to, during, and after events and demonstrations.’”

OPS Chief Stubbs and the C-IRG

At the time of the announcement of his appointment as Police Chief, le Droit reported: “In recent years, Eric Stubbs has been involved in the management of protests on traditional Wet’suwet’en territory, in opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.”

Photo: The RCMP C-IRG arrest Freda Huson and Pocholo Alen Conception, February 10, 2020. Photo by Amber Bracken/The Narwhal.

Sam Hersh of Horizon Ottawa has commented in the Ottawa Citizen: “In his previous role as assistant commissioner with the British Columbia RCMP, he was heavily involved in the police raids on Wet’suwet’en territory. These raids saw armed violence brought upon the Indigenous community, along with the unwarranted arrests of journalists.”

Hersh has also noted: “We are unsure how a Police Chief who played a big role in raids of Indigenous territory is supposed to make BIPOC and other equity-seeking communities in Ottawa feel safe – quite the opposite”.

The C-IRG as a “national best practice”

In February of this year, The Tyee reported: “The RCMP sent a controversial policing unit, which was originally formed to respond to clashes over resource extraction, to events protesting Israel’s war on Gaza, framing the demonstrations as ‘pro-Hamas’ and supportive of terrorism.”

The RCMP unit was called the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG).

That article added: “C-IRG’s approach to public disorder has been adopted as a ‘national best practice’, according to senior media relations officer Staff Sgt. Kris Clark, and a rebrand is underway to reflect its expanded role in B.C.”

The unit, now renamed the Critical Response Unit or CRU-BC, is currently under systemic investigation by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC). This investigation follows nearly 500 complaints about the unit including allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico works with the Observatory of Social and Gender Violence of Aguascalientes to strengthen their security strategies

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted: “From @PBI_Mexico we recognize the work of the Social and Gender Violence Observatory of Aguascalientes [OVSG AGS]  @FeministAgs in favor of the #DDHH [human rights] of all people and we appreciate your trust to be able to talk and strengthen your security strategies.”

This followed a tweet from the Observatory that says: “We thank Peace Brigades International Mexico @PBI_Mexico for their support to strengthen our security strategies. We know that human rights and the fight for dignity are worked on, agreed upon and lived collectively. April 2024. #Silence Doesn’t Protect Us”

On April 16, the Observatory also tweeted: “#Security Alert. We issue this security alert following some telephone calls that have been made to the Observatory’s telephone number, which violate the security of the members of our organization. #Silence Doesn’t Protect Us.”

We further note that in January 2023, Milenio reported: “Defender Mariana Ávila Montejano [the president of the Observatory of Social and Gender Violence of Aguascalientes] received a call through which she was threatened with death and rape for which the National Citizen Observatory of Femicide (OCNF) expresses concern.”

That article adds: “Mariana has worked for 17 years in the defense of human rights; In addition, she accompanies relatives of disappeared persons in the central-western area of the country, and is a member of the National Citizen Observatory on Femicide.”

On November 25, 2023, in the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Ávila Montejano pointed out that 13 femicides have been registered in Aguascalientes.

That same month, El Sol del Centro reported: “The Observatory of Social and Gender Violence of Aguascalientes expressed its concern about the performance of the Attorney General of the State, recalling the emphasis they have made throughout the administration of Jesús Figueroa Ortega regarding the urgency of dialogue with the families and the correct implementation of the investigation protocols, which in its words, they still don’t happen.”

And on February 15, 2024, the Observatory “demanded, on legal grounds, the removal of the state’s Attorney General, Jesús Figueroa Ortega [because he] has been a protagonist in giving statements in the processes of victims of femicide, homicide and other violence, for example on the violent death of Cynthia Natali on January 24, 2023, the femicide of Nidia on November 6, 2023, and the violent death of Ociel Baena and Dorian Daniel during the same year; these processes have remained inconclusive and unpunished due to the omissions of the Prosecutor’s Office.”

A key objective of the Observatory of Social and Gender Violence of Aguascalientes is to “contribute to the promotion and protection of women’s human rights.” Its website also notes: “The Observatory accompanies the cases of disappeared persons in the State and victims of femicide and their families, in the struggle for access to truth, justice, memory, reparation and non-repetition.”

On femicide, they note: “Femicide is the direct visible part of the violence generated against girls and women, it is the result of systematic violence and disregard for respect for their human rights. Insufficient and inadequate attention from institutions, in addition to being unacceptable, aggravates the problem and fosters it.”

Aguascalientes is a city situated about 500 kilometres north-west of Mexico City. The city is in a state with the same name. The state has a population of about 1.4 million people, most of whom live in the city.

We continue to follow the work of the Gender Violence Observatory.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Chinautla Multi-Sector as they peacefully resist illegal sand extraction and river pollution

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted: “#PBI accompanies Chinautla Multi-Sector. Today we visited members at their planton [protest site] and they updated us on their struggle, challenges, progress and upcoming activities.”

The situation in Chinautla

This past January, Prensa Comunitaria reported:

“Santa Cruz Chinautla and its authorities maintain a peaceful resistance against the La Primavera and Piedrinera San Luis sand mines, which have been operating illegally with expired licenses since 2022, and have not obtained an extension to operate.

These companies have maintained the industrial extraction that has generated environmental pollution of the river that bears the same name of the community (from where the potters extract the mud for their pottery crafts), where it has been reported that they discard construction material, garbage and earth, due to agreements between the municipality and some neighbors with transporters. In addition, roads have deteriorated due to the use of heavy transport, causing landslides and cracked homes.

In addition, recently, the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) has reported that the extraction of white sand in the territory has caused landslides and several families in the community have lost fragments of their homes due to this.”

PBI-Guatemala has also explained:

“The region has been a sand mining area for decades, but it was in 1995 that large-scale sand extraction began with heavy machinery, an activity that had a strong social and environmental impact on the area. More than 2,000 people are being affected in different ways: earthworks, caused by machinery, which crack their houses; respiratory problems, due to dust kicked up by vehicles, suffered by people living closer to the road; Decrease in the quality of the area’s clay, a raw material used in handicrafts, the main economic activity of these communities.

In addition, this population is also affected by the pollution of the river, which comes from the garbage dump in zone 3 of the Capital City, this derives from a problem that increases in rainy seasons.”

PBI-Canada visits, May 2023

Hope with the election of Arevalo?

On January 15, after the swearing in of the new Guatemalan president Bernardo Arevalo, El Faro quoted René Chacón, a Mayan Poqomam leader and second mayor of Santa Cruz Chinautla, who commented:

“We hope that there will be democracy for all, development and benefit for the whole country. In Santa Cruz Chinautla there is a large exploitation of part of the sand mines that have been degrading our land. Seeing these things, we came together. And here is not only Chinautla, but all the villages… But we have to wait. Even [the last president Alejandro] Giammattei said he wasn’t going to be corrupt. And in the long run he was. We can’t trust anyone, just wait for their will.”

The PBI-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform since December 2018.

Further reading: “Our community is forgotten.” Visit to the residents of Chinautla (PBI-Guatemala article).

Photo: PBI-Canada meets with the community, May 1, 2023.

Alert: Death Threats Against Colombian Human Rights Lawyer Germán Romero

By
Brent Patterson
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Article by Yannick Wild, Advocacy Coordinator, Peace Brigades International-Switzerland.

UN Human Rights Experts[1] sent a letter to the government of Colombia, expressing their concerns about the death threats and acts of intimidation committed against the lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Germán Romero Sánchez, a member of the Network of Human Rights Defenders (DHColombia).

Over the course of 2023, Romero received phone calls from unknown people threatening him and his family, specifically his minor daughters. He was followed and monitored and harassed on the street through direct threats to his physical integrity.

UN experts had sent letters to the Colombian government about German Romero’s risk situation in 2019 and 2012. After years of threats and actions against his daughters, German left the country with his family in 2021 before returning to Colombia at the end of 2022.

The threats come as Romero investigates members of the national police for their alleged role in killings that occurred in Bogotá during the September 2020 protests.

The Special Procedures asked the Government of Colombia to provide information on the investigations into the threats as well as on the protection measures provided to German Romero and his family. The Colombian government responded by explaining that the events are being investigated by the Directorate of International Affairs of the Attorney General’s Office. In addition, it clarifies that Romero “has been a beneficiary of [protection] measures since 2013.”

Germán Romero Sánchez is a lawyer and human rights defender, well recognized for his legal representation of victims of serious human rights violations and other crimes perpetrated primarily by state security forces. He has represented victims in emblematic judicial processes in which the responsibility of Colombia’s high-ranking military commanders has been investigated, and some that have been brought before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). Romero is a beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

[1] Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence

The four requests in this letter:

  1. Please provide any additional information or comments in relation to the above allegations.
  2. Please provide detailed information on any investigations that have been carried out in relation to the threats and surveillance against Mr. Romero Sánchez.
  3. Please provide information on the protection measures that have been provided to Mr. Romero Sánchez since his return to Colombia from exile, and in response to the threats detailed above.
  4. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that human rights lawyers, such as Mr. Romero Sánchez, who defend victims of human rights violations perpetrated by State authorities, are able to carry out their work without fear of threats, intimidation, violence or aggression.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS as FEDEPESAN shares their organizational experience with National University students

By
Brent Patterson
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CREDHOS has posted on Facebook:

“We accompanied FEDEPESAN [the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Santander] in their reception of students from the Faculty of Sociology of the National University. Together with them, we toured the Rosario and San Silvestre streams, and one of the areas impacted by the forest fires in March in the District of Barrancabermeja.

In this space, artisanal fisherwomen and fishermen shared their organisational experience in defence of their natural assets and trades in the face of environmental degradation caused by extractive activities in the region.

#Environment #Dignity #artisanalfisheries #CIENEGA”

It appears that the students have been in the area for a few days.

CREDHOS tweet: “We received a visit from students from the Faculty of Sociology of the National University of Colombia, with whom we shared the territorial dynamics of the Magdalena Medio region.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Regional Corporation in the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.

inews reports on Elbit at weapons show in London, will The Breach be able to cover CANSEC in Ottawa this year?

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Caolán Magee.

inews.co.uk reports: “Companies selling weapons to Israel have been showcasing missiles at a three-day arms fair in London.”

That article by London/Belfast-based journalist Caolán Magee adds: “The International Training Technology Exhibition (IT2EC) – an annual display of the latest advances in modern warfare – and accompanying Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) conference was held at the Excel arena in Newham, east London, this week.”

“More than 50 nations and 120 companies were invited to the event covered by i, including Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of the Israeli firm experts claim manufactured the Hermes 450 drone that killed aid workers in Gaza earlier this month including three Britons.”

Magee then quotes Member of Parliament Kenny MacAskill who says: “It’s bad enough that the UK is complicit in the manufacture and supply of weaponry that’s killing indiscriminately in Gaza. But to be flaunting that is nauseating. It isn’t a game or reality show in Palestine, but unmitigated horror for millions. Arms sales to Israel must cease and so must shows that revel in the carnage being inflicted.”

The full article can be read at Inside UK arms fair where firms selling weapons to Israel showcase lethal missiles.

Inews.co.uk says: “We’re proudly independent and have no agenda when it comes to political disputes – but we won’t hesitate to call out injustice or wrongdoing when we see it, no matter who’s doing it.”

Similarly, The Breach in Canada describes itself as: “An independent media outlet producing critical journalism to help map a just, viable future.”

But in contrast, The Breach was barred from the CANSEC arms show that took place in Ottawa on May 31-June 1, 2023.

The Breach reported: “A CADSI representative told The Breach on Wednesday [May 31] that the media outlet had its accreditation request refused because it might provide ‘negative coverage’. ‘We have the right to deny media access, and we looked at your coverage and you do aggressively critical anti-war journalism’, the representative said on a phone call. When questioned about whether this would be an infringement on press freedoms, the representative offered access that was conditional on The Breach providing positive coverage.”

That article quoted Sarah Abdul-Karim, an organizer with the Ottawa chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, who said: “The event hosts Israeli arms corporations–like Elbit Systems–that regularly test new military technology on Palestinians and then market them as ‘field-tested’ at arms expos like CANSEC.”

At that time, Abdul-Karim said their goal is to “push the Ottawa City Council to ban CANSEC from operating in Ottawa at all.”

She added: “That’s the message that we want to send today: that we are not okay with this happening every single year in our city, with our government making deals with these war criminals and being part of the imperialist war machine.”

This year the Palestinian Youth Movement, Labour for Palestine, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), Anakbayan Ottawa and the Anti-Imperialist Alliance are demanding “from the Government of Canada that there be an independent and in-depth inquiry into CADSI and its direct involvement in human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

Instagram post.

CANSEC 2024 will take place this coming May 29-30 at the EY Centre.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has already welcomed CANSEC 2024 to Ottawa “on behalf of Members of Ottawa City Council” highlighting “I want to acknowledge CADSI, the guest speakers, exhibitors, and sponsors for dedicating efforts, expertise, services and resources to the successful organization of this annual event.”

The question remains if The Breach or other independent media outlets like The Maple would receive media accreditation this year.

Peace Brigades International provides accompaniment to journalists like Maya Q’eqchi’ reporter Carlos Ernesto Choc in Guatemala who are at risk for their reporting. PBI-Canada will be present at the protest against CANSEC to document/report on the stories coming from organizations, defenders and communities impacted by Canadian weapons sales and to monitor the Ottawa Police response to the demonstration.

Multiple groups say “Shut Down CANSEC” arms show, call for independent inquiry into CADSI lobby group

By
Brent Patterson
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Instagram image.

Labour for Palestine, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), the Palestinian Youth Movement, Anakbayan Ottawa and the Anti-Imperialist Alliance say: “Warmongers will not be allowed to gather in peace!”

Their social media post adds: “Individuals and organizations will be gathering again at North America’s largest trade show CANSEC, held annually in Ottawa at the end of May, to further carry out deals for weapons and military technology.”

They then highlight: “We must continue to resist organizations like the Canadian Association for Defence and Security Industries and shut down warmongering events like CANSEC…”

Notably, they “demand from the Government of Canada that there be an independent and in-depth inquiry into CADSI and its direct involvement in human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

They conclude: “Join us at CANSEC2024 to confront the companies and people profiting most from war & genocide.”

The CANSEC arms show, organized by CADSI, will take place on Wednesday May 29 and Thursday May 30 at the EY Centre in Ottawa.

PBI-Canada will be present at the protest against CANSEC to document/report on the stories coming from organizations, defenders and communities impacted by Canadian weapons sales and to monitor the Ottawa Police response to the demonstration.

Nehirowisiw land defenders establish blockade to stop clearcutting on unceded Nitaskinan territory in northern Quebec

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by Franklin Lopez.

On April 9, Nehirowisiw (Atikamekw) land defenders set up a blockade in Opiticiwan to safeguard their ancestral lands of Nitaskinan from logging.

Ricochet has previously noted: “The Atikamekw Nation, which represents close to 6,700 people spread over three reserves — Opitciwan, Wemotaci and Manawan — occupies a vast territory of 80,000 km2, the Nitaskinan, which straddles the regions of Abitibi, Lac-Saint-Jean, Haute-Mauricie and Lanaudière.”

Yesterday (April 11), the Nehirowisiw Aski Land Keepers Association Facebook page highlighted: “The Nehirowisiw Aski Territory Guardians maintain their position regarding the land claims that have been erected for over a year on various Nehirowisiw Aski heritage and ancestral sites. They are issuing these measures in order to protect the Territory of the Unconquered Nations and are raising their voices to halt the decline in biodiversity, combat climate disruption and denounce the abuse of resources.”

The blockade at Opiticiwan follows a confrontation near Wemotaci on March 18. To watch a 6-minute video of that by Amplifier Films, click here.

For geographic reference, Wemotaci is about 410 kilometres north of Montreal and about 585 kilometres north-east of Ottawa.

This second 5-minute video (also by Amplifier Films) notes that St-Léonard, Quebec-based Arbec Forest Products Inc. is “the company that carries out a large part of the logging on Nehirowisiw territory.”

This Guardians of Territory website explains: “Nehirowisiw Aski Territory Keepers have always existed and occupy ancestral territory to protect and defend the heritage of our ancestors. The Guardians of the Territory Association brings together the Guardians of the Territory, Hereditary Chiefs and Women Matriarchs. They join forces and skills to protect ‘Mother Earth’ from all dangers that could affect the ecosystem.”

It’s Going Down has also noted: “It’s important to note that the blockades and protests are not just about stopping logging but are a part of a larger demand for respect, consultation, and co-management of the lands that are central to the Nehirowisiw way of life. Community leaders have expressed a willingness to negotiate and to be part of the decision-making processes that affect their lands, indicating a path forward that includes respect for Indigenous rights and environmental stewardship​.”

For updates on this situation, please see the Territory Guardians Facebook page.

This GoFundMe page has been set up to support the land defenders protect their ancestral lands and forests.

We continue to follow this.

Video: Guardians of the Land: The Nehirowisiw Aski’s Fight Against Deforestation.

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