PBI-Canada is thrilled that Russ Diabo will be speaking at the upcoming PBI webinar on police violence in Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya and Nicaragua.

Russ Diabo is a member of the Mohawk nation of Kahnawake, a well-known policy analyst and adviser, and a prominent critic of the Canadian government’s resource extraction, assimilation and “reconciliation” agenda.

Beginning in 1987, Russ has been taking Indigenous rights and environmental issues to international forums, notably the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

Russ has also been on the frontlines of many struggles.

Among them, Russ, when he was just 16 years old, was at the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC in November 1972 that drew attention to living conditions and Treaty rights. He was also at the Wounded Knee standoff in 1973 that took place at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Russ was also an adviser to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake during a blockade against logging on their territories in 1989. There were numerous logging blockades and a blockade of Highway 117 in 1990 which led to a 1991 Trilateral Agreement for forests and wildlife management between the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Quebec and Canada.

And in 1990 he escorted Jean Chretien, then the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons, to Kahnawake and Kanehsatake while both communities were under siege by the provincial police (the SQ) and later the Canadian Army.

Russ has been married for more than 30 years and has five children and six grandchildren.

To read Russ’ full biography, please click here.

You can follow him on Twitter at @RussDiabo.

To register for the webinar this coming Friday October 30 at 10 am ET, please click here.

Along with Russ, this webinar will feature Faith Kasina (Kenya), a representative of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya (Guatemala), a member of Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Mas (in exile in Costa Rica), and Berenice Celeita and Germán Romero (Colombia).

On October 22, human rights journalist Brandi Morin tweeted: “My God let’s not repeat the past! OPP have killed Indigenous over land rights in the past-Dudley George, Ipperwash, 25 years ago. Now OPP firing rubber bullets at Six Nations Land Defenders over a housing development on Six Nations Treaty promised land. Canada, stop this.”

The following day, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked about the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) firing rubber bullets at land defenders and what he saw as the path forward to resolving the situation on Six Nations territory in southern Ontario.

Ford did not respond to the issue of the rubber bullets, but rather appeared to focus on the Haudenosaunee land defenders, highlighting: “I’m going to be very blunt, I’m not going to tolerate violence, it’s very simple. …I don’t know if a few folks are going rogue… It’s unfortunate we have a couple bad apples causing problems…”

He then added: “Let’s flip this for a little bit. These people have saved everything they’ve had. They go in to a community. They buy a home, like all of us, our goal is to buy a home, and all of a sudden someone comes in and says, ‘No, it’s not yours anymore, it’s ours.’ It’s unacceptable. It shouldn’t be and won’t be tolerated. It just frustrates me.”

Ford did not make reference to the Haldimand Treaty of October 25, 1784 that granted the land to the Six Nations nor the lengthy legal challenge before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for the unlawful dispossession of this land from the Six Nations peoples.

When asked if he has been in communication with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or the federal Minister of Public Safety on this issue. Ford responded: “I have not sat down and talked with the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister.”

Ford then seemed to describe the land defenders as “bad actors”.

The provincial Ipperwash Inquiry examined the events leading to the death of Indigenous land defender Dudley George who was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police officer during a land defence struggle in 1995. The report was released in May 2007.

A key recommendation of that report was: “The provincial government should invite the federal government to participate in interministerial ‘blockade’ committees to inform and coordinate governmental responses to Aboriginal occupations and protests when a potential federal interest is engaged.”

One implication of this is that a political resolution to a land rights issue should be pursued, not an armed police response that can result in the death of a land defender.

PBI-Canada recalls the Ipperwash Inquiry, the key themes of its recommendations on how Indigenous protests and occupations could be addressed to prevent the killing of another land defender, discourages the Premier from describing land defenders in derogatory ways, and supports the calls for a peaceful resolution of this conflict that respects the Treaty and inherent rights of the Haudenosaunee.

We also express our profound concern for the safety of the Haudenosaunee land defenders given the OPP actions on August 5 and October 22.

You can watch the 5-minute video with Premier Doug Ford’s full comments here. The 773-page Ipperwash Inquiry report can be read here.

The Peace Brigades International-North America Project received a verbal invitation to be present at Ipperwash following the death of Dudley George given the fear of further violence on the part of the police. PBI-NAP made four visits to the Ipperwash area between September 1995 and July 1996. For more on this, please click here.

Photo: An OPP police officer at 1492 Land Back Lane, October 22, 2020.

As Peace Brigades International approaches its 40th anniversary in 2021, we are sharing the reflections of past volunteers from Canada who accompanied at-risk defenders in various PBI project countries over the years.

Heidi Mitton, who lives in Nova Scotia, accompanied defenders through the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project for 18 months beginning in June 2015.

Heidi tells us: “Working with PBI Colombia was a very humbling and inspiring experience. I had the honour of meeting and working with human rights and environmental defenders in many different settings. I was motivated to work with PBI because I feel international accompaniment embodies solidarity and can promote social justice in unique ways, as well as build relationships between communities. I am very grateful for the time I spent with social leaders in Colombia.”

Prior to her time with PBI, Heidi also participated in a six-month internship in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2007-08.

And in May 2012, Heidi wrote about growing up in rural Nova Scotia, remembering the Westray mine disaster (that killed 26 miners) and reflecting on those memories while accompanying a demonstration in Guatemala City by campesino and indigenous groups opposed to big development projects on their lands.

In December 2015, about six months into her placement in Colombia, Heidi reflected in an interview with PBI-Canada: “[Accompaniment is] a different approach to issues that have their root in international inequality and in our economic and social systems. The relationship building that comes with international accompaniment allows us to promote human rights globally while building networks across borders.”

Please consider making an online donation to PBI-Canada to help us with our continuing outreach efforts to find volunteers to accompany defenders. Accompaniment continues to be critically needed in helping to make space for peace.

“We never brought guns to anybody’s front door, they brought them to us.”: Haudenosaunee land defender Skyler Williams yesterday evening in this video by One Dish One Mic.

There are growing concerns about an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) raid against the 1492 Land Back Lane camp on Six Nations territory near the city of Caledonia following a court ruling prohibiting the presence of land defenders at a construction site for a 1,000 unit housing development that lacks free, prior and informed consent.

The Haudenosaunee land defenders began their occupation of the site on July 19 and experienced a police raid on August 5 following the court issuing a temporary injunction against them in late July. To date, 33 land defenders and allies have been arrested.

Yesterday, APTN reported: “The spokesperson for the 1492 Land Back Lane camp in Caledonia, Ontario may be on the hook for $20 million in damages after an Ontario Superior Court judge found him in contempt of a court order, tossed out his evidence and made two injunctions permanent.”

That article adds: “In that [discarded] statement of defence [that noted the history of land theft and colonialism experienced by Six Nations peoples], Williams counters that the Crown, not him, should be liable for damages for failing in their duty to consult with the community regarding development of the disputed parcel.”

Williams has previously stated: “This development must be seen as being yet another instance in an ongoing history of colonial land theft and genocide, that it is people from Six Nations who are facing the greater harm if this matter is decided against their interests.”

One Dish One Mic also reports that the hearing was held both in person and on Zoom and that after Williams commented about the abuse of process that he “was muted by the court for the remainder of the proceeding and prevented from offering a defense for the reclamation of 1492 Land Back Lane.”

Following the ruling several OPP cruisers appeared on the road by 1492 Land Back Lane.

Ricochet reports: “Witnesses say police fired at least six rubber bullets and tasered a young man after someone threw a rock at their cruiser. In the ensuing chaos, Ontario Provincial Police fell back to a reinforced position about 500 metres from the camp’s back entrance.”

This 2-minute video on Twitter shows part of that clash.

The Ricochet article also notes: “There were roughly 20 land defenders at the camp, but by 8:30 p.m. ET [on Thursday night], their numbers had swollen to between 100 and 150 as community members flocked to the scene.”

Late yesterday evening there was also this Twitter photo of OPP cruisers in a parking lot noting: “Large police build up currently visible in Caledonia, Ontario.”

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, the traditional governance body for the area, has not granted its free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for the development. FPIC is a key principle in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Notably, the land being occupied is part of the Haldimand Tract that was granted in 1784 to the Six Nations of the Grand River. Six Nations launched a challenge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 1995 for the unlawful dispossession of this land from them, but it is not scheduled to be heard until October 2022.

Human rights journalist Brandi Morin has tweeted: “My God let’s not repeat the past! OPP have killed Indigenous over land rights in the past-Dudley George, Ipperwash, 25 years ago. Now OPP firing rubber bullets at Six Nations Land Defenders over a housing development on Six Nations Treaty promised land. Canada, stop this.”

Peace Brigades International was present in the aftermath of the OPP shooting of Aazhoodena land defender Anthony ‘Dudley’ George who was seeking a return of his ancestral lands near Sarnia, Ontario that were being used as a Canadian military base.

PBI-Canada expresses its deep concern about the treatment of Skyler Williams in court, how injunctions have been used to criminalize Indigenous land defence struggles in this country, the use of state violence [drawn weapons, rubber bullets, Tasers] against unarmed land defenders, and we further reaffirm that defending rights is not a crime.

1492 Land Back Lane has set up this Legal Fund to assist with their legal costs. For the latest updates, see #1492LandBackLane on Twitter.

In this exclusive interview with Mongabay Latam, Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, highlights the reality and dangers faced by human rights defenders including in Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras.

Key excerpts from that interview include Lawlor noting:

“The situation in Latin America is very serious. We see many cases of defenders working for their lands, for the rights of indigenous peoples and for the environment who become a target because of their human rights work.

Colombia has been the country with the highest number of defenders killed. And it is that these deaths often occur in the context of large companies, extractive mining and business projects that may also be involved in deforestation and illegal activities.

I recently had a meeting with companies involved in harassment in Colombia, of a large coal mine, and from my point of view, having spoken with them, there is no respect for human rights defenders.

I can talk about what is happening in Guatemala, because I was on a mission in that country and I traveled especially to see the situation of environmental rights defenders. I witnessed, for example, a group of women who, every day, for six months, were protesting. In various parts of the country there were protests and the authorities did not know what to do.

I think the best documented case [of companies involved in threats and the murders of human rights defenders] is that of Berta Cáceres in Honduras, in which the DESA company was implicated in his murder and personnel of that company have been involved. Bertha was a woman who defended the Lenca people against the installation of a hydroelectric plant that threatened to affect the water, and she was murdered.

If you look around the world, you see that governments are driven by political and strategic interests that undermine the ideals of human rights defenders.

There is a connection between economic interests and threats that undermine the environment. You cannot separate what happens to environmental defenders from the impact on the way of life of communities and then of course the drivers of corruption that undermine the protection that defenders can be given.

As I am in charge of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights around the world, I can say that in all regions governments are not doing enough to protect human rights defenders. There has to be a clear commitment, laws and policies to protect them and public recognition of their work.”

To read the full interview with Lawlor (which is in Spanish), please go to Entrevista a Relatora Especial de la ONU: “Los gobiernos no están haciendo lo suficiente para proteger a los defensores de derechos humanos»

Clockwise: Mary Lawlor, Anita Ramasastry, Livinstone Sewanyana, Saad Alfarargi, Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, and David R. Boyd.

In this open letter to the Secretary General of the Finance in Common Summit, six United Nations rapporteurs and experts have expressed concern about the lack of a human rights focus at an upcoming meeting of public development banks.

The Finance in Common Summit, to be convened on November 9-12 both virtually and in person in Paris, will bring together public development banks which function in relation to Canada’s export credit agency Export Development Canada (EDC) and the development finance institution FinDev Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDC.

Their letter notes:

“Bearing in mind that the main duty to fulfill human rights rests with States, we believe public development banks, as state-owned institutions, have an important positive role to play in the promotion of human rights across the globe.

We note with concern the absence of any explicit mention of human rights in the publicly available literature detailing the purpose and plan for the Summit.

We also note with concern the lack of reference to the responsibilities of financial institutions, and their clients and investees to respect human rights, as set out the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

We strongly encourage the organisers to create a space for civil society, human rights defenders and affected communities to meaningfully participate in and provide input to this conference, so as their knowledge of the potential human rights impact of public development finance may be included in the deliverables of the Summit…”

Similarly, Peace Brigades International has also signed this letter noting: “The activities of PDBs [public development banks] have repeatedly exacerbated poverty, widened inequalities and fuelled human rights violations (such as reprisals, land grabbing and forced evictions) without access to any useful remedies for affected communities.”

That letter, signed by more than 200 organizations, also calls on the French Development Agency (AFD) to prioritize human rights, including the UN recognized right to free, prior and informed consent, at the summit.

Additionally, PBI-Canada supports these key demands made by Oil Change International, Above Ground and Environmental Defence to the Government of Canada calling on it to end EDC support for fossil fuels and highlighting that corporations with a record of human rights violations, including violations of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, should be denied support from EDC.