Video of Katie George-Jim by Brandi Morin.

As of June 4, more than 170 people have been arrested by the RCMP for contravening a court injunction obtained by Teal-Jones Group on May 17 that allows the company to log in an area called Fairy Creek on Pacheedaht territory on Vancouver Island.

While the elected chief of the Pacheedaht First Nation supports the logging, Pacheedaht Elder William (Bill) Jones opposes the logging and furthermore says that half of the 284-person nation also opposes the logging on the territory.

Jones says the old-growth forest is essential to his culture and religion.

He says: “We now must give a gesture to our Great Mother by saying no. The whole world is being run on a colonist extraction economy and it’s at the end of its ‘sucking’ I call it. There are no resources left. I think we are trying to save the last remnants of our own sensitivities. Once the old growth is gone, there is no connection to our historic past.”

Katie George-Jim, also known as xʷ is xʷ čaa, a member of the T’Sou-ke First Nation on southern Vancouver Island, also opposes the logging.

Kai Nagata has tweeted that George-Jim, who was acting as a legal observer, was arrested by the RCMP on May 21. Nagata notes: “Brian Harris is the cop who grabs her by the hood / hair. She has now been charged with assaulting a police officer.”

In this interview clip by Brandi Morin posted on June 3, George-Jim describes the colonial agenda of British Columbia Premier John Horgan.

Land defender fund

Settler-ally Alex Hughes explains that this fund was set up in response to a call to action from Huu-ay-aht youth Clappis/ƛapisim. Hughes further notes that George-Jim asked her to facilitate the releasing of these funds to Indigenous land defenders to support them.

That includes: “Support towards their participation in frontline work, as well as aftercare, and healing from colonial violence for Indigenous land defenders.”

It further notes: “100% of funds will go directly to Indigenous land defenders.” Donations can be made to the fund here. As of this date, it has raised $55,312.

On June 5, Siiam Hamilton tweeted: “RCMP blocking a caravan of Nuu Chah Nulth relatives from accessing the territory. I can’t believe it’s 2021 and the cops get to decide when and how Indigenous people access our own land.”

Tweet by Secwepemc land defender Kanahus Manuel. Video by Dawna Mueller.

Tamara Lorincz and Brent Patterson will be supporting a workshop at the World Beyond War #NoWar2021 virtual conference on June 4.

Some of the discussion areas will include:

1- The military’s carbon “bootprint”

While the United States government does not publish data on military carbon emissions, data on military energy consumption – both fuel consumption of vehicles and energy consumption of military installations – is available.

A study published by Brown University estimated the total carbon emissions of the US military in 2017 to be 59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The carbon emissions from the UK military has been estimated at 3.2 million tonnes.

Stuart Parkinson of Scientists for Global Responsibility has further estimated that the carbon emissions of the world’s armed forces and the industries that provide their equipment may be about 5 per cent of the global total of emissions.

In 2019, the global total was 36.44 billion metric tons, which would put military emissions at about 1.8 billion tons.

To put that in perspective, Canada emitted about 730 million tonnes in 2019.

2- Contamination from military bases

The study published by Brown University noted above that said the US military had produced 59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2017, further noted that military bases and other installations were responsible for 40 per cent of those emissions.

Furthermore, military bases are simply toxic.

The Canadian Department of National Defence says there are 26 military properties in this country where PFAS contamination is either suspected or confirmed. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluorinated substances, are linked to causing cancer.

The Environmental Working Group also says that groundwater contamination from PFAS have been confirmed at 328 US military sites and suspected at about 350 other sites.

3- The environmental impact of extracting materials to build war machines

The Conflict and Environment Observatory has noted: “Building and sustaining military forces consumes vast quantities of resources. These might be common metals or rare earth elements, water or hydrocarbons.”

One pertinent example might be that each F-35 fighter jet requires 920 pounds of rare-earth materials for critical components such as their electrical power systems. This can require intensive mining with multiple environmental impacts.

4- The environmental impact of operating weaponry

The Royal Geographic Society study recently noted that the US military, one of the largest polluters in history, consumed 269,230 barrels of oil a day in 2017.

During the six months of bombing that took place over Libya in 2011, the Royal Canadian Air Force burned 14.5 million pounds of fuel.

Tamara has also pointed out that the F-35 fighter jet releases more carbon in one long-range flight than a typical automobile does in a year. The average car in Canada burns about 2,000 litres of gasoline every year releasing about 4,600 kilograms of CO2.

And to look at just one example of war, the armed conflict in Colombia resulted in the loss of 3 million hectares of forest (an area the size of Belgium), the degradation of 1.5 million hectares of land, 4.1 million barrels of oil spilling into soil and water from attacks on pipelines, and 1.75 million hectares of territory sprayed with a carcinogenic herbicide.

5- Strategies for resistance and demilitarization

What can we do to change this?

i- Publish military carbon emission totals: The International Peace Bureau has called for an inclusion of military greenhouse gas emission in climate change regulations. The IPB also says countries need to be obliged, without exemption, to cut military emissions and transparently report them.

ii- Demand a peace agenda at the COP26 climate summit: The anti-war movement could mobilize for the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will take place this November 1-12 in Glasgow, Scotland.

iii- Defund the military and redirect spending to address climate change: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has reported total global military expenditures rose to $1.981 trillion in 2020, an increase of 2.6 percent.

iv- Cancel Canada’s purchase of 88 new fighter jets: In 2022, Canada plans to purchase 88 new fighter jets for $19 billion that would have a life-cycle cost of about $76.8 billion. Imagine if that were redirected toward addressing climate change.

v- Connect struggles: The peace and anti-war movement could support Indigenous struggles against oil pipelines including the Secwepemc struggle against the Trans Mountain pipeline on their territories in Canada and the Indigenous struggle against the Line 3 pipeline on their territories in the United States, most notably Minnesota right now.

What else can we think of?

To read the conference program and register for the virtual conference, click here.

Speaking notes

Thank you to Richard for sharing your insights and the important history of resistance in Ottawa to the ARMX arms show. It serves as an inspiration to all of us.

I also quickly want to note that Murray Thomson, one of the founders of the organization I am with – Peace Brigades International – was a regular participant in these protests.

In fact, I recently read in the minutes of a PBI-Canada Board meeting from 1993 about PBI’s planned participation in Dis-ARMX.

Most recently we participated along with many other groups and individuals in challenging the CANSEC arms show in June 2019.

People came together to physically block the two main entrance points to the EY Centre where the arms show takes place.

It’s an important and tangible thing to do.

As Rachel Small from World Beyond War Canada highlighted on a PBI-Canada webinar yesterday about the current situation in Colombia, the sales that are made at CANSEC have very real, real-world implications.

Rachel noted that in May 2014, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a federal government owned Crown corporation, toured the exhibition floor at CANSEC arms show with an official delegation from Colombia.

Global Affairs Canada later reported that it had exported almost $45 million in “military goods” to Colombia that year.

We also know that inn May 2014 Toronto-based armoured vehicle manufacturing company INKAS reported it would supply four Huron tactical attack and defense vehicles to the National Police of Colombia.

In April 2015, INKAS also reportedly had a tendered order 26 Huron vehicles for the Colombian police. PLANT reported: “The Huron will be outfitted with a cannon to wrangle unruly rioters with foam, tear gas, dyes and water.”

We also know that INKAS demonstrated its Sentry model armoured personnel carrier at CANSEC in May 2016 and attended CANSEC in subsequent years.

While Global Affairs Canada has not been forthcoming with us about how these vehicles are being used against the current national strike protests in Colombia, there are countless videos on social media about similar vehicles being used in the context of concern about illegal, disproportionate and excessive use of violence by the Colombian police.

Temblores has reported that between April 28 and May 31, there were 3,789 cases of police violence, 1,649 arbitrary detentions and 25 victims of sexual violence committed by the police and military in the context of the ongoing national strike.

This is what we need to keep in mind the next time we are standing on a roadway in front of an arms show anywhere in the world with the police trying to push us onto the sidewalk.

How do we stop these arms shows?

We recall that CANSEC grew out of ARMX, the Government of Canada-organized military trade show that Richard has just described.

It was previously held at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa in the 1980s.

In 1989, Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar and City Council passed a resolution that prohibited ARMX from municipal properties, including Lansdowne Park.

Earlier this week, we noted that Los Angeles City Council voted to condemn the police violence against the national strike in Colombia and called on the United States to suspend its arms sales to the Colombian government.

That is just one example of what we can all do locally.

In the meantime, it’s not too early for us to begin to organize around the next CANSEC arms show which is scheduled for June 1-2, 2022.

Earlier this week, Global Affairs Canada disclosed that it had exported $1.966 billion in military goods and technology last year.

If we add that with the figures for the five years prior to that ($3.757 billion in 2019, $2.069 billion in 2018, $1.031 billion in 2017, $717.7 million in 2016 and $676 million in 2015), Canada has exported more than $10 billion in “military goods” in just six years.

While it is not easy to stop this, we must look to each other for inspiration and ideas to do the necessary work to build a world beyond war.