FYI - CBC North TV News reports The "Feeding my Family" in Nunavut Facebook group & founder Leesee Papatsie will be featured on "Facebook Stories" next week.. http://www.facebookstories.com/
"Feeding my Family"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/239422122837039/
Nothing on CBC's http://www.cbc.ca/north/news/ website yet... just a mention in tonight's broadcast..
Items of interest from around the Circumpolar region.
Friday, 31 August 2012
Monday, 20 August 2012
Seeking Personal accounts of poverty from the NWT & Nunavut
Date: 20 August 2012 12:03
Subject: Seeking Personal accounts of poverty from the NWT & Nunavut
Hi everyone,
The Dignity for All campaign is working on events to mark October 17th, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Right now we are planning to send every MP and Senator a personal story of poverty and a ribbon or button that they can wear during the day. Then in the evening we will collaborate with the newly established federal anti-poverty caucus to host a discussion on poverty. To help us get things organized we are now looking for personal accounts of poverty. It may be your own story, or someone you know. We can change names to respect anonymity as well. We hope to have 100 stories that we can then circulate to parliamentarians. If you can send me a story or a few that would be so helpful! Send as many as you can by September 4th. Also, please let me know if we can use your story as well. For those […] who speak French, we would love to receive a few stories in French so that we can send them translated to French speaking MPs.
Details: Stories should be short – 150 words – and be offered as a reflection of the reality that many people living in Canada face. Here is a sample:
Nadine’s story:
Nadine works 3-6 hours per week and is constantly stressed about her dwindling bank account. She wonders how she will make it last until her next payday. She looks forward to the day that she can get some food from the local food bank to stretch her budget, but this is only a few times a month. Nadine lives with constant worry about being able to afford food for her family, running out of money, and trying to look for work. She worries that someone in her family will need medical care or something will break and need replacing and she will not be able to afford it.
[…]
Thank you for your help!
Megan Yarema
Director, Education & Outreach / Directrice, Éducation et Mobilisation communautaire
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
Working in alliance with the CWP Advocacy Network / Travaillant en alliance avec le Réseau de revendication CSP
Honorary Directors / Directeurs honoraires
Right (Très) Hon. Joe Clark; Hon. Louise Arbour; Hon. Monique Bégin; Hon. Ed Broadbent; Ovide Mercredi
Ottawa office / Bureau d’Ottawa: @UnderOneRoof,
251 Bank Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3
(613) 789-0096 (1-800-810-1076)
Vancouver office / Bureau de Vancouver: (604) 628-0525
Web Site; http://www.cwp-csp.ca/
Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Without-Poverty/106633876058589
Twitter; https://twitter.com/CWP_CSP
Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada
http://www.dignityforall.ca
Dignité pour tous: Campagne pour un Canada sans pauvreté
http://www.dignityforall.ca/fr/partisans-de-la-campagne
Help support our work! / Aidez-nous!
http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?charityID=s41272
Canada Helps (donate on-line and receive an immediate tax receipt / Faites un don en ligne et recevez immédiatement un reçu pour les impôts)
Subject: Seeking Personal accounts of poverty from the NWT & Nunavut
Hi everyone,
The Dignity for All campaign is working on events to mark October 17th, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Right now we are planning to send every MP and Senator a personal story of poverty and a ribbon or button that they can wear during the day. Then in the evening we will collaborate with the newly established federal anti-poverty caucus to host a discussion on poverty. To help us get things organized we are now looking for personal accounts of poverty. It may be your own story, or someone you know. We can change names to respect anonymity as well. We hope to have 100 stories that we can then circulate to parliamentarians. If you can send me a story or a few that would be so helpful! Send as many as you can by September 4th. Also, please let me know if we can use your story as well. For those […] who speak French, we would love to receive a few stories in French so that we can send them translated to French speaking MPs.
Details: Stories should be short – 150 words – and be offered as a reflection of the reality that many people living in Canada face. Here is a sample:
Nadine’s story:
Nadine works 3-6 hours per week and is constantly stressed about her dwindling bank account. She wonders how she will make it last until her next payday. She looks forward to the day that she can get some food from the local food bank to stretch her budget, but this is only a few times a month. Nadine lives with constant worry about being able to afford food for her family, running out of money, and trying to look for work. She worries that someone in her family will need medical care or something will break and need replacing and she will not be able to afford it.
[…]
Thank you for your help!
Megan Yarema
Director, Education & Outreach / Directrice, Éducation et Mobilisation communautaire
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
Working in alliance with the CWP Advocacy Network / Travaillant en alliance avec le Réseau de revendication CSP
Honorary Directors / Directeurs honoraires
Right (Très) Hon. Joe Clark; Hon. Louise Arbour; Hon. Monique Bégin; Hon. Ed Broadbent; Ovide Mercredi
Ottawa office / Bureau d’Ottawa: @UnderOneRoof,
251 Bank Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3
(613) 789-0096 (1-800-810-1076)
Vancouver office / Bureau de Vancouver: (604) 628-0525
Web Site; http://www.cwp-csp.ca/
Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Without-Poverty/106633876058589
Twitter; https://twitter.com/CWP_CSP
Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada
http://www.dignityforall.ca
Dignité pour tous: Campagne pour un Canada sans pauvreté
http://www.dignityforall.ca/fr/partisans-de-la-campagne
Help support our work! / Aidez-nous!
http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?charityID=s41272
Canada Helps (donate on-line and receive an immediate tax receipt / Faites un don en ligne et recevez immédiatement un reçu pour les impôts)
Announcing George Lessard of Yellowknife, NWT as one of four new Board members of Canada Without Poverty
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Canada Without Poverty is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members to its Board of Directors: Derek Cook of Calgary (for an At-Large seat), George Lessard of Yellowknife (for the NT seat), Wayne MacNaughton of Halifax (for the NS seat) and Brenda Thompson of Annapolis Royal, NS (for an At-Large seat).
Derek Cook grew up in a poor household in rural Ontario and experienced first-hand the impacts of exclusion that results from a lack of access to the resources of society. Learning of the value of social justice, Derek has dedicated the past 20 years to social change – including assisting in the drafting of a living wage policy for the City of Calgary and organizing the group Poverty Talks which engaged over 500 low-income Calgarians in the development of a local poverty strategy. Derek is currently the Executive Director of the Calgary Poverty Reduction Initiative, a community-based effort to reduce poverty in the municipality.
George Lessard is a bilingual communication and media specialist that has travelled the world helping others learn how to use both traditional mass media and new digital media. George grew up in a working class family in Montreal, and since then has lived in some of the poorest and remote parts of Canada following his studies in journalism. He also trained many of the founding members of the first wave of community radio in Québec. Currently he distributes relevant information on social and environmental justice in the circumpolar region via Northern Clips. Experiencing poverty first hand has taught him that there are many ways to survive and many wonderful successes to not only learn about, but to help others learn about.
Wayne MacNaughton has had personal experience trying to make ends meet on social assistance. A firm believer in the motto of the disability rights movement – "nothing about us without us" – Wayne recognizes that solutions to poverty require engagement of the low income population. He has shared his message over the past few years as a Volunteer Inspirational Speaker with the United Way of Halifax Regional Municipality. Wayne is a bilingual community activist. 'He is a member of the Community Advocates Network in Nova Scotia, a founding member of the Community Society to End Poverty in Nova Scotia, and has been involved with the human rights network ATD Fourth World.
Brenda Thompson experienced life on welfare as a single mother, resolving to be resourceful and stand up for herself. This experience led to the publication of the book The Single Mothers Survival Guide in 1988, and the article The Violence of Welfare and Single Mothers on Social Assistance in Nova Scotia. Brenda has a BA in Women's Studies and an MA in Sociology. She has spent the past six years as the Chair of the Board of the Women's Place Resource Centre, and is currently helping others find jobs in a high unemployment area of Nova Scotia.
Founded in 1971 as the National Anti-Poverty Organization, Canada Without Poverty is a registered charity (#13091 6638 RR0001) seeks to eradicate poverty in Canada for the benefit of all, by educating Canadians about the human and financial cost of poverty, and by identifying public policy solutions. Canada Without Poverty is governed by people who have experienced poverty.
Rob Rainer rob@cwp-csp.ca
Executive Director / Directeur executif
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
Working in alliance with the CWP Advocacy Network / Travaillant en alliance avec le Réseau de revendication CSP
Honorary Directors / Directeurs honoraires
Right (Très) Hon. Joe Clark
Hon. Louise Arbour
Hon. Monique Bégin
Hon. Ed Broadbent
Ovide Mercredi
Ottawa office / Bureau d'Ottawa: @UnderOneRoof, 251 Bank Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3; (613) 789-0096 (1-800-810-1076)
Vancouver office / Bureau de Vancouver: (604) 628-0525
Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada / Dignité pour tous: Campagne pour un Canada sans pauvreté
Help support our work! / Aidez-nous!
CanadaHelps (donate on-line and receive an immediate tax receipt / Faites un don en ligne et recevez immédiatement un reçu pour les impôts)
***Please note that a 3.9% administration fee is applied to any donation processed by CanadaHelps. For a donation of $99 or less, it is more efficient for us for the donation to be processed by CanadaHelps. For a donation of $100 or greater, we recommend making it by cheque to Canada Without Poverty.
Today, poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world. Combating poverty, deprivation and exclusion is not a matter of charity, and it does not depend on how rich a country is. By tackling poverty as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime. Poverty eradication is an achievable goal.
Hon. Louise Arbour, Honorary Director and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day 2006
Human rights only become meaningful when they gain political content...they are rights that require active participation from those who hold them.
Lynn Hunt, human rights historian
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
"Bombs or bread". The battle: investing in fighter jets vs. poverty.
How Much Is One Killer Airplane Worth?
The $475 million price of one F-35 could buy a lot of social good. What would you have government spend it on?
"Bombs or bread". The battle: investing in fighter jets vs. poverty.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/08/13/F35-Worth/index.html
[excerpt]
"...Support for Aboriginal people
The 2012 federal budget promised new support for Aboriginal Canadians, including a $275 million investment in Aboriginal education. But Aboriginal leaders have dismissed the number as insufficient to meet the underfunded needs of Canada's Aboriginal youth.
An additional $475 million would almost triple resources for Aboriginal education. But the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) points out that the price of one jet could also cover the one-time cost of 38 of the 40 new schools needed on Aboriginal reserves (at an average of $12.5 million each). Or it could pay the $126 million annual cost of funding First Nations language education for three and a half years -- bringing First Nations language instruction up to the same level as public school language programs.
Or how about funding primary healthcare (visits to family doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, etc.) for residents of remote Aboriginal communities? One foregone fighter plane would cover the entire cost of primary healthcare for men, women and children in 70 of the nation's most remote and isolated Aboriginal communities for a year, with almost $180 million left over...."
The $475 million price of one F-35 could buy a lot of social good. What would you have government spend it on?
"Bombs or bread". The battle: investing in fighter jets vs. poverty.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/08/13/F35-Worth/index.html
[excerpt]
"...Support for Aboriginal people
The 2012 federal budget promised new support for Aboriginal Canadians, including a $275 million investment in Aboriginal education. But Aboriginal leaders have dismissed the number as insufficient to meet the underfunded needs of Canada's Aboriginal youth.
An additional $475 million would almost triple resources for Aboriginal education. But the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) points out that the price of one jet could also cover the one-time cost of 38 of the 40 new schools needed on Aboriginal reserves (at an average of $12.5 million each). Or it could pay the $126 million annual cost of funding First Nations language education for three and a half years -- bringing First Nations language instruction up to the same level as public school language programs.
Or how about funding primary healthcare (visits to family doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, etc.) for residents of remote Aboriginal communities? One foregone fighter plane would cover the entire cost of primary healthcare for men, women and children in 70 of the nation's most remote and isolated Aboriginal communities for a year, with almost $180 million left over...."
Thursday, 9 August 2012
#YZF #NWT's Giant Mine...will pose a human health hazard ... forever
Essay: Deep time stretches our imaginations, not just our engineering prowess
"....One of the most human and humble things we do is to reach across generations. Conversations about deep time are taking place in community centers and kitchens across the globe, in places like Yellowknife, home to a First Nations community of Dene. Though Yellowknife's Giant Mine has been closed for nearly a decade, it will pose a human health hazard for such a long period of time we might as well think of it as forever. The site, near the Arctic Circle, houses the world's largest stockpile of arsenic trioxide tailings. Contaminants like these can persist in watersheds and food webs for longer than any 10,000-year clock will ever chime, and longer than burial structures are designed to safeguard chemical and nuclear waste. Keeping these sites safe for hundreds of thousands of years requires unprecedented feats of engineering - and of human imagination.
[...]
Though the Giant Mine has been closed for nearly a decade, it will pose a human health hazard for such a long period of time we might as well think of it as forever.
[...]
"...The Yellowknife Dene and a group called Alternatives North looked to how other Northwest Territories communities reconcile life among the layered legacies of the 20th century.
[...]
Engineers considered freezing the arsenic trioxide. Their plan to maintain the frozen tailings looked ahead a quarter of a century. The community wanted to know, what then? What of generations born beyond that? The heart of the matter: How do we safeguard harmful substances forever? "This is a unique problem in all of human history," Raffensperger later wrote. It is one of the most important challenges we must face as a society.
[...]
And so Raffensperger began drafting the principles of "perpetual care" to assist the Yellowknife Dene, and communities everywhere, to push regulators and decision-makers to extend the period of concern when caring for and healing hurt places. Released earlier this year, the Principles have already begun to reframe important conversations about long-term care of sites facing millennial problems with legacy pollutants. What responsibilities do we bear to our decedents? How should their rights influence how we organize ourselves and our economy, and what endeavors we as a society pursue? One idea that has already gained traction is the installation of legal guardians to stand for future generations, an idea Raffensperger, indigenous leaders and other visionaries have written about extensively.
Raffensperger returned from Yellowknife changed, charged, determined to inspire others to think about their responsibilities to future generations, particularly those living millennia from now. She invited each of us to become "beloved ancestors" even as we pursue environmental justice within this generation.
[...]
When Raffensperger visited Yellowknife, she toured the Giant Mine and its many abandoned buildings. She saw where the arsenic trioxide is stored.
[more]
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/deep-time
[...]
Though the Giant Mine has been closed for nearly a decade, it will pose a human health hazard for such a long period of time we might as well think of it as forever.
[...]
"...The Yellowknife Dene and a group called Alternatives North looked to how other Northwest Territories communities reconcile life among the layered legacies of the 20th century.
[...]
Engineers considered freezing the arsenic trioxide. Their plan to maintain the frozen tailings looked ahead a quarter of a century. The community wanted to know, what then? What of generations born beyond that? The heart of the matter: How do we safeguard harmful substances forever? "This is a unique problem in all of human history," Raffensperger later wrote. It is one of the most important challenges we must face as a society.
[...]
And so Raffensperger began drafting the principles of "perpetual care" to assist the Yellowknife Dene, and communities everywhere, to push regulators and decision-makers to extend the period of concern when caring for and healing hurt places. Released earlier this year, the Principles have already begun to reframe important conversations about long-term care of sites facing millennial problems with legacy pollutants. What responsibilities do we bear to our decedents? How should their rights influence how we organize ourselves and our economy, and what endeavors we as a society pursue? One idea that has already gained traction is the installation of legal guardians to stand for future generations, an idea Raffensperger, indigenous leaders and other visionaries have written about extensively.
Raffensperger returned from Yellowknife changed, charged, determined to inspire others to think about their responsibilities to future generations, particularly those living millennia from now. She invited each of us to become "beloved ancestors" even as we pursue environmental justice within this generation.
[...]
When Raffensperger visited Yellowknife, she toured the Giant Mine and its many abandoned buildings. She saw where the arsenic trioxide is stored.
Before leaving, she tossed into one of its open pits a gold ring she had brought from home. As she told me, harm happened in the process of cleaving – arsenic from gold, people from land, today's generations from those to come. So she returned the gold to reunite what has been cleft. This was an alternate form of inheritance, symbolizing the alternate legacy she hopes to leave. And there the ring will sit, perhaps for all time.
Rebecca Altman is a sociologist, a lecturer at Tufts University and a columnist at OdeWire.com. She serves on the board of directors of the Science and Environmental Health Network, at www.sehn.org. A version of this essay was originally posted at www.OdeWire.com.
[more]
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/deep-time
As a Crown Attorney working with First Nations ...he was routinely misinterpreting the behaviour of Aboriginal victims, witnesses, and offenders,
Helen Mills
from the book "…Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality…"
As a Crown Attorney working with First Nations in remote northwestern Ontario, Rupert Ross learned that he was routinely misinterpreting the behaviour of Aboriginal victims, witnesses, and offenders, both in and out of court. He discovered that he regularly drew wrong conclusions when he encountered witnesses who wouldn't make eye contact, victims who wouldn't testify in the presence of the accused, and parents who showed great reluctance to interfere in their children's offending behaviour. With the assistance of Aboriginal teachers, he began to see that behind such behaviour lay a complex web of coherent cultural commandments that he had never suspected, much less understood.
As his awareness of traditional Native teachings grew, he found that the areas of miscommunication extended well beyond the courtroom, causing cross-cultural misunderstanding—and ill-informed condemnation.
Dancing with a Ghost is Ross's attempt to give some definition to the cultural gap that bedevils the relationships and distorts the communications between Native peoples and the dominant white Canadian society—and to encourage others to begin their own respectful cross-cultural explorations. As Ross discovered, traditional perspectives have a great deal to offer modern-day Canada, not only in the context of justice but also in terms of the broader concepts of peaceful social organization and personal fulfilment.
See/read "…Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality…"
http://www.amazon.ca/Dancing-Ghost-Exploring-Indian-Reality/dp/0143054260
from the book "…Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality…"
As a Crown Attorney working with First Nations in remote northwestern Ontario, Rupert Ross learned that he was routinely misinterpreting the behaviour of Aboriginal victims, witnesses, and offenders, both in and out of court. He discovered that he regularly drew wrong conclusions when he encountered witnesses who wouldn't make eye contact, victims who wouldn't testify in the presence of the accused, and parents who showed great reluctance to interfere in their children's offending behaviour. With the assistance of Aboriginal teachers, he began to see that behind such behaviour lay a complex web of coherent cultural commandments that he had never suspected, much less understood.
As his awareness of traditional Native teachings grew, he found that the areas of miscommunication extended well beyond the courtroom, causing cross-cultural misunderstanding—and ill-informed condemnation.
Dancing with a Ghost is Ross's attempt to give some definition to the cultural gap that bedevils the relationships and distorts the communications between Native peoples and the dominant white Canadian society—and to encourage others to begin their own respectful cross-cultural explorations. As Ross discovered, traditional perspectives have a great deal to offer modern-day Canada, not only in the context of justice but also in terms of the broader concepts of peaceful social organization and personal fulfilment.
See/read "…Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality…"
http://www.amazon.ca/Dancing-Ghost-Exploring-Indian-Reality/dp/0143054260
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Canada Without Poverty - 2012 Pre-Budget Consultation Submission
[excerpt]
"...2012 Pre-Budget Consultation Submission
August 3, 2012 Four Recommendations for the 2013 Federal Budget
1) Direct resources for creating and implementing a federal plan for poverty elimination that complements provincial and territorial plans, and that sets targets and timelines for poverty reduction and elimination
2) Establish a low income refundable tax credit equal to the gap between a person's total income and the value of the Low Income Measure for applicable households
3) Create an anti-poverty competitiveness taskforce and an anti-poverty impact test similar to the business impact test now done by departments to evaluate regulations and regulatory burden
4) In anticipation of a significant spike in food prices due the catastrophic 2012 North American drought, establish a special, national emergency food security fund to assist low-income individuals and families in meeting their food requirements..."
Full document here....
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102285216/Federal-Pre-budget-Submission-From-Canada-Without-Poverty
"...2012 Pre-Budget Consultation Submission
August 3, 2012 Four Recommendations for the 2013 Federal Budget
1) Direct resources for creating and implementing a federal plan for poverty elimination that complements provincial and territorial plans, and that sets targets and timelines for poverty reduction and elimination
2) Establish a low income refundable tax credit equal to the gap between a person's total income and the value of the Low Income Measure for applicable households
3) Create an anti-poverty competitiveness taskforce and an anti-poverty impact test similar to the business impact test now done by departments to evaluate regulations and regulatory burden
4) In anticipation of a significant spike in food prices due the catastrophic 2012 North American drought, establish a special, national emergency food security fund to assist low-income individuals and families in meeting their food requirements..."
Full document here....
http://www.scribd.com/doc/102285216/Federal-Pre-budget-Submission-From-Canada-Without-Poverty
Monday, 6 August 2012
SERNNoCa [Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada] videos
Subject: SERNNoCa [Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada] videos
For more information about the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, go to http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/sernnoca/ .
Here are all their current videos
For more information about the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, go to http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/sernnoca/ .
Here are all their current videos
SERNNoCa uploaded a video 2 days ago
"Evolution of the Social Economy in Yellowknife" - J. Sabin, University of Toronto
4 views
Presentation given by Jerald Sabin, University of Toronto, during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Yellowknife, No...
SERNNoCa uploaded a video 2 days ago
"Poverty and the Social Economy in the North - Panel" - R. Mohamed, Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition
12 views
Presentation given by Reanna Mohamed, Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition, as a part of a panel during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summ...
SERNNoCa uploaded a video 3 days ago
"The State and the Social Economy" - F. Abele, Carleton University
9 views
Presentation given by Frances Abele, Carleton University, during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Yellowknife, Nor...
SERNNoCa uploaded a video 3 days ago
"Resource Regimes and the Social Economy" - B. Parlee, University of Alberta
6 views
Presentation given by Brenda Parlee, University of Alberta, during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Yellowknife, N...
SERNNoCa uploaded a video 3 days ago
"Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships" - M. Toye, Canadian Social Economy Hub
11 views
Presentation given by Michael Toye, Canadian Social Economy Hub and Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet), during the Northern ...
"Tourism, Recreation and Sport in Northern Social Economies" - M. Johnston, Lakehead University
33 views
Presentation given by Margaret Johnston during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Whitehorse, Yukon from November 2n...
"The Importance of the Social Economy in the North" - E. McKenna, Nunavut Anti-Poverty Secretariat
29 views
Presentation given by Ed McKenna, Nunavut Anti-Poverty Secretariat during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Whiteho...
"Social Economy in the not-North: Approaches from other parts of Canada" - B. Reimer, CCEDNet
56 views
Presentation given by Brendan Reimer from the Canadian Community Economic Development Network during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The...
"What do hard times do to the social economy?" - J. Sabin, University of Toronto
43 views
Presentation given by Jerald Sabin, University of Toronto, during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Whitehorse, Yuk...
"Indigenous Communities and the Social Economy" - D. Natcher, University of Saskatchewan
60 views
Presentation given by David Natcher, University of Saskatchewan, during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Whitehors...
"Homelessness and Affordable Housing in the NWT" - N. Falvo, Carleton University
68 views
Presentation given by Nick Falvo, Carleton University during the Northern Summit on the Social Economy. The Summit was held in Whitehorse, Yukon fr...
"The Northern Social Economy" - Chris Southcott, Lakehead University
69 views
Presentation given by Chris Southcott, Project Director of the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada (SERNNoCa) during the Northern Su...
SERNNoCa posted 9 months ago
For more information about the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, go to http://dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/sernnoca/ .
GEORGE LESSARD
Information, Communications and Media Specialist
Spécialiste en l'information, communications et media
451 Norseman Dr.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2J1, Canada
Yellowknife Cell # (867) 445-9193
E-mail: mediamentorATgmailDOTcom
Website mediamentor.ca
Twitter Feed on Northern & First Nations Issues
Twitter Feed on Journalism & Media Issues
Twitter Feed on Community Radio Worldwide
Member:
Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiens
Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective
Information, Communications and Media Specialist
Spécialiste en l'information, communications et media
451 Norseman Dr.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2J1, Canada
Yellowknife Cell # (867) 445-9193
E-mail: mediamentorATgmailDOTcom
Website mediamentor.ca
Twitter Feed on Northern & First Nations Issues
Twitter Feed on Journalism & Media Issues
Twitter Feed on Community Radio Worldwide
Member:
Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiens
Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of Gwich'in, Inupiat & Inuit "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point" ISBN: 9781609803858
Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of Gwich'in, Inupiat & Inuit "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point" ISBN: 9781609803858
---------- Forwarded message ----------
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Portside Moderator <moderator @ portside. org>
Date: 2 August 2012 16:47
Subject: Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point"
To: PORTSIDE@lists.portside.org
Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point"
By Eleanor J Bader,
Truthout - Book Review -
This article is a Truthout original.
Reprinted with permission of the author
Truthout
July 24, 2012
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10278-chronicling-the-war-of-nature-vs-greed-a-review-of-arctic-voices-resistance-at-the-tipping-point
Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point
Edited by Subhankar Banerjee
Seven Stories Press
New York, 2012
http://www.sevenstories.com/products/arctic-voices
"...According to editor Subhankar Banerjee, "the Arctic is warming
at a rate double that of the rest of the planet." This, of
course, has already had a discernible impact on the animals,
fish and people of the region - and beyond. As rising
temperatures have put many scientists and everyday folks on
high alert, they are increasingly primed for battle against
profit-hungry corporations and the drill-baby-drill crowd, who
see the Arctic's immense stock of coal, oil and other natural
resources as a tremendous boon - environment be damned.
The 31 essays in "Arctic Voices" contest this destructive
greed. Some focus on the indigenous cultures that stand to be
eradicated by the folly of energy companies; others address
the visible destruction of the lands and waters of Alaska,
Russia, Iceland and Greenland. Dozens of photos - both black-
and-white and color - hammer the realities of contamination
and pollution. It's a sobering read, especially for urban
dwellers whose existence is far removed from the subsistence
lifestyle of the Gwich'in, Inupiat and Inuit people.
"We're all connected to the northern hemisphere," Banerjee
writes in an introduction to the volume: "
Hundreds of millions of birds migrate to the Arctic each
spring from every corner of the earth - including Yellow
Wagtail from Kolkata - for nesting and rearing their young
and resting - a planetary celebration of global
interconnectedness. On the other hand, caribou, whale and
fish migrate hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles,
connecting numerous indigenous communities through
subsistence food harvests - local and regional
interconnectedness. However, daily industrial toxins
migrate to the Arctic from every part of our planet,
making animals and humans of the Arctic among the most
contaminated inhabitants of the earth.
Indeed, Banerjee notes that the breast milk of women in
Greenland and northern Canada is "as toxic as hazardous
waste." Additionally, author Marla Cone, in an excerpt from a
book entitled "Silent Snow," presents evidence that Inuit
women, who eat a diet rich in whale and seal meat, have high
levels of mercury and PCBs in their bodies. As a result, when
they breast feed, these poisons are passed to their offspring,
putting them at risk of cancer and other diseases.
But let's step back a bit. Martha Shaa Tlaa Williams' essay,
"A Brief History of Native Solidarity," puts today's crisis in
historical perspective by zeroing in on the mistreatment of
Native populations both before and subsequent to Alaskan
statehood. As early as the 1920s, she reports, Native
communities challenged racist laws that barred Indian children
from public schools and took issue with pervasive stereotypes
that viewed them as savage and unsanitary fodder for Christian
missionaries. More than 30 years later, when Alaska became the
49th state in 1959, the average indigenous person had only a
sixth-grade education, infant mortality rates were extremely
high and tuberculosis was epidemic. Worse, the average
lifespan of Alaskan Natives was just 34.7.
Despite these obvious problems, Williams writes that "the
proverbial Phoenix rose from the ashes as a direct result of
the Statehood Act." The Act specifically said that the state
could claim lands only if they were "vacant, unappropriated
and unreserved," but Williams concludes that the Alaskan
government simply grabbed what it wanted.
The upshot was that indigenous people's property rights were
often trampled - land and waterways that had long been relied
upon for sustenance were taken for nuclear testing and the
building of massive dams. While Native people prevailed in
stopping Project Chariot, a 1959 plan to detonate enormous
atomic bombs on Alaska's north slope, they have been less
successful in stopping either dam construction or corporate
avarice.
Pamela A. Miller's "Broken Promises: The Reality of Big Oil in
America's Arctic," presents the rationale for opening up the
coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
companies. Essentially, pro-drilling forces have always argued
that the process would not harm the environment. Take a
statement issued by BP when Prudhoe Bay was first opened to
development in the late 1970s: "No unsightly drilling rigs are
left to mar the landscape; they are moved as soon as their
task is done. Only a relatively small system of flow lines
will be installed above ground to carry the oil from each well
to the gathering centers. Formal clean-up programs keep
Prudhoe Bay part of the wilderness."
Not so, Miller writes. In fact, since oil was discovered in
Prudhoe Bay in 1968 and the pipeline began removing it in
1977, an area the size of Rhode Island has been continually
plundered. What's more, more than 6,100 exploratory and
production wells, 500 miles of roads, two refineries, 20
airports, 1,000 miles of pipelines, 27 production plants,
hundreds of residences and numerous power plants have been
erected and now cover 1,000 square miles of once-pristine
land. "Prudhoe Bay air pollution emissions have been detected
nearly 200 miles away in Barrow, Alaska," Miller writes. "The
oil industry on Alaska's north slope annually emits
approximately 70,413 tons of nitrogen oxides, which contribute
to smog and acid rain. This is more than twice the amount
emitted by Washington, D.C. according to the Environmental
Protection Agency, more than many other U.S. cities." Among
the pollutants found: Carbon monoxide, methane, sulfur dioxide
and volatile organic compounds.
As if this weren't heinous enough, Miller reports that more
than one spill occurs each and every day. Although such
accidents rarely make national news, she writes that there
have been 6,000 spills of 2.7 million gallons since 1998. And
predictably, recovery is nearly impossible due to ice, snow
and cold, even in an era of global warming. Furthermore,
Miller concludes that more than 100 sites are already badly
contaminated - a fact substantiated by a 600 percent spike in
respiratory illnesses in and around Prudhoe Bay.
That the oil industry shrugs this off - and minimizes the
damage wrought by large-scale disasters like the Exxon Valdez
spill and BP explosion - has not only enraged
environmentalists, both Native and not, it has led to action
and organizing. Indeed, for the first time in decades, Native
groups have banded together to fight big oil and preserve the
cultural continuity that has defined their people for tens of
thousands of years. Their reverence for, and connection to,
the earth - its animals, water, mountains and land - is
beautifully described in "Arctic Voices," and each essay is as
much a prayer as a call to activism.
Despite the area's relatively small population - on the
American side, 65 Native communities are home to an estimated
27,500 people - their fierce commitment to their way of life
makes them a force to be reckoned with. Just ask George W.
Bush. Much to his displeasure, GWB's attempt to open the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development was
defeated thanks in part to opposition by a group called the
Gwich'in Streering Committee. That said, the struggle is far
from over, and the task remains twofold: to clean up the
damage that has already been done and to stop further
encroachment. It's a tall order.
"Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point" is an eye-
opening account of a precious place that few of us will ever
visit. At the same time, the many writers included in the
anthology not only share their love of nature, but also raise
important questions about our reliance on oil, gas and coal.
In addition, one basic point drives the collection. In the
words of Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former chair of the Inuit
Circumpolar Council: "The Arctic is the barometer of the
health of the planet and if the Arctic is poisoned, so are we
all."
If she's right, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to
back her claim, we're nearing the point of no return. The
contributors to Arctic Voices - scientists, indigenous people,
environmental activists, researchers and scholars - have given
us the tools we need to understand the calamity. As Vandana
Shiva, author of "Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and
Development," writes, "The earth and her beings have been
speaking. We stay deaf at our peril."
[Eleanor J. Bader is a freelance writer, teacher and feminist
activist from Brooklyn, New York. She writes for The Brooklyn
Rail, ontheissuesmagazine.com, RHrealitycheck.org and other
progressive blogs and publications.]
Related Stories
Arctic Scientist Who Exposed Climate Threat to Polar Bear Is
Suspended
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian UK - Report
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/2437
Environmental Protection Agency Puts Greenhouse Gas Rules for
Oil Refineries on Backburner
By Elizabeth McGowan, InsideClimate News - Report
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/7196
========== ...."
___________________________________________
Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.
Submit via email: portside@portside.org
Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3
Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq
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Date: 2 August 2012 16:47
Subject: Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point"
To: PORTSIDE@lists.portside.org
Chronicling the War of Nature vs. Greed: A Review of "Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point"
By Eleanor J Bader,
Truthout - Book Review -
This article is a Truthout original.
Reprinted with permission of the author
Truthout
July 24, 2012
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10278-chronicling-the-war-of-nature-vs-greed-a-review-of-arctic-voices-resistance-at-the-tipping-point
Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point
Edited by Subhankar Banerjee
Seven Stories Press
New York, 2012
http://www.sevenstories.com/products/arctic-voices
$26.96US
- Hardcover
- 560
- July 3, 2012
- 9781609803858
"...According to editor Subhankar Banerjee, "the Arctic is warming
at a rate double that of the rest of the planet." This, of
course, has already had a discernible impact on the animals,
fish and people of the region - and beyond. As rising
temperatures have put many scientists and everyday folks on
high alert, they are increasingly primed for battle against
profit-hungry corporations and the drill-baby-drill crowd, who
see the Arctic's immense stock of coal, oil and other natural
resources as a tremendous boon - environment be damned.
The 31 essays in "Arctic Voices" contest this destructive
greed. Some focus on the indigenous cultures that stand to be
eradicated by the folly of energy companies; others address
the visible destruction of the lands and waters of Alaska,
Russia, Iceland and Greenland. Dozens of photos - both black-
and-white and color - hammer the realities of contamination
and pollution. It's a sobering read, especially for urban
dwellers whose existence is far removed from the subsistence
lifestyle of the Gwich'in, Inupiat and Inuit people.
"We're all connected to the northern hemisphere," Banerjee
writes in an introduction to the volume: "
Hundreds of millions of birds migrate to the Arctic each
spring from every corner of the earth - including Yellow
Wagtail from Kolkata - for nesting and rearing their young
and resting - a planetary celebration of global
interconnectedness. On the other hand, caribou, whale and
fish migrate hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles,
connecting numerous indigenous communities through
subsistence food harvests - local and regional
interconnectedness. However, daily industrial toxins
migrate to the Arctic from every part of our planet,
making animals and humans of the Arctic among the most
contaminated inhabitants of the earth.
Indeed, Banerjee notes that the breast milk of women in
Greenland and northern Canada is "as toxic as hazardous
waste." Additionally, author Marla Cone, in an excerpt from a
book entitled "Silent Snow," presents evidence that Inuit
women, who eat a diet rich in whale and seal meat, have high
levels of mercury and PCBs in their bodies. As a result, when
they breast feed, these poisons are passed to their offspring,
putting them at risk of cancer and other diseases.
But let's step back a bit. Martha Shaa Tlaa Williams' essay,
"A Brief History of Native Solidarity," puts today's crisis in
historical perspective by zeroing in on the mistreatment of
Native populations both before and subsequent to Alaskan
statehood. As early as the 1920s, she reports, Native
communities challenged racist laws that barred Indian children
from public schools and took issue with pervasive stereotypes
that viewed them as savage and unsanitary fodder for Christian
missionaries. More than 30 years later, when Alaska became the
49th state in 1959, the average indigenous person had only a
sixth-grade education, infant mortality rates were extremely
high and tuberculosis was epidemic. Worse, the average
lifespan of Alaskan Natives was just 34.7.
Despite these obvious problems, Williams writes that "the
proverbial Phoenix rose from the ashes as a direct result of
the Statehood Act." The Act specifically said that the state
could claim lands only if they were "vacant, unappropriated
and unreserved," but Williams concludes that the Alaskan
government simply grabbed what it wanted.
The upshot was that indigenous people's property rights were
often trampled - land and waterways that had long been relied
upon for sustenance were taken for nuclear testing and the
building of massive dams. While Native people prevailed in
stopping Project Chariot, a 1959 plan to detonate enormous
atomic bombs on Alaska's north slope, they have been less
successful in stopping either dam construction or corporate
avarice.
Pamela A. Miller's "Broken Promises: The Reality of Big Oil in
America's Arctic," presents the rationale for opening up the
coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
companies. Essentially, pro-drilling forces have always argued
that the process would not harm the environment. Take a
statement issued by BP when Prudhoe Bay was first opened to
development in the late 1970s: "No unsightly drilling rigs are
left to mar the landscape; they are moved as soon as their
task is done. Only a relatively small system of flow lines
will be installed above ground to carry the oil from each well
to the gathering centers. Formal clean-up programs keep
Prudhoe Bay part of the wilderness."
Not so, Miller writes. In fact, since oil was discovered in
Prudhoe Bay in 1968 and the pipeline began removing it in
1977, an area the size of Rhode Island has been continually
plundered. What's more, more than 6,100 exploratory and
production wells, 500 miles of roads, two refineries, 20
airports, 1,000 miles of pipelines, 27 production plants,
hundreds of residences and numerous power plants have been
erected and now cover 1,000 square miles of once-pristine
land. "Prudhoe Bay air pollution emissions have been detected
nearly 200 miles away in Barrow, Alaska," Miller writes. "The
oil industry on Alaska's north slope annually emits
approximately 70,413 tons of nitrogen oxides, which contribute
to smog and acid rain. This is more than twice the amount
emitted by Washington, D.C. according to the Environmental
Protection Agency, more than many other U.S. cities." Among
the pollutants found: Carbon monoxide, methane, sulfur dioxide
and volatile organic compounds.
As if this weren't heinous enough, Miller reports that more
than one spill occurs each and every day. Although such
accidents rarely make national news, she writes that there
have been 6,000 spills of 2.7 million gallons since 1998. And
predictably, recovery is nearly impossible due to ice, snow
and cold, even in an era of global warming. Furthermore,
Miller concludes that more than 100 sites are already badly
contaminated - a fact substantiated by a 600 percent spike in
respiratory illnesses in and around Prudhoe Bay.
That the oil industry shrugs this off - and minimizes the
damage wrought by large-scale disasters like the Exxon Valdez
spill and BP explosion - has not only enraged
environmentalists, both Native and not, it has led to action
and organizing. Indeed, for the first time in decades, Native
groups have banded together to fight big oil and preserve the
cultural continuity that has defined their people for tens of
thousands of years. Their reverence for, and connection to,
the earth - its animals, water, mountains and land - is
beautifully described in "Arctic Voices," and each essay is as
much a prayer as a call to activism.
Despite the area's relatively small population - on the
American side, 65 Native communities are home to an estimated
27,500 people - their fierce commitment to their way of life
makes them a force to be reckoned with. Just ask George W.
Bush. Much to his displeasure, GWB's attempt to open the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development was
defeated thanks in part to opposition by a group called the
Gwich'in Streering Committee. That said, the struggle is far
from over, and the task remains twofold: to clean up the
damage that has already been done and to stop further
encroachment. It's a tall order.
"Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point" is an eye-
opening account of a precious place that few of us will ever
visit. At the same time, the many writers included in the
anthology not only share their love of nature, but also raise
important questions about our reliance on oil, gas and coal.
In addition, one basic point drives the collection. In the
words of Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former chair of the Inuit
Circumpolar Council: "The Arctic is the barometer of the
health of the planet and if the Arctic is poisoned, so are we
all."
If she's right, and there is plenty of scientific evidence to
back her claim, we're nearing the point of no return. The
contributors to Arctic Voices - scientists, indigenous people,
environmental activists, researchers and scholars - have given
us the tools we need to understand the calamity. As Vandana
Shiva, author of "Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and
Development," writes, "The earth and her beings have been
speaking. We stay deaf at our peril."
[Eleanor J. Bader is a freelance writer, teacher and feminist
activist from Brooklyn, New York. She writes for The Brooklyn
Rail, ontheissuesmagazine.com, RHrealitycheck.org and other
progressive blogs and publications.]
Related Stories
Arctic Scientist Who Exposed Climate Threat to Polar Bear Is
Suspended
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian UK - Report
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/2437
Environmental Protection Agency Puts Greenhouse Gas Rules for
Oil Refineries on Backburner
By Elizabeth McGowan, InsideClimate News - Report
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/7196
========== ...."
___________________________________________
Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.
Submit via email: portside@portside.org
Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3
Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq
Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe
Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive
Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate
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