July 23 – Decolonizing Together: Indigenous Walking Tour, Solidarity Assembly & Asinabka Festival Film Screening

UPDATE:

Media from the event:

Facebook pages:

 
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decolonizingtogetherDecolonizing Together:
Indigenous Walking Tour, Solidarity Assembly &
Asinabka Festival Film Screening

– Walking Tour with Jaime Koebel
– Opening by a local Elder
– Robert Lovelace will be speaking
– Movie Screening of Rhymes For Young Ghouls with Asinabka Film Festival
* Note Director Jeff Barnaby will be in attendance for a Q & A

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Wednesday, July 23

Walking Tour Starts at 5:30pm
– meet at the Human Rights Monument, Elgin and Lisgar

Assembly begins at 7:15pm on Victoria Island

Movie starts at 8:45pm on Victoria Island

Free Food
Suggested Donation: $5 – $15
No one turned away for lack of money
Accessibility notes below

Contact Us:
asinabkafestival@gmail.com
www.asinabkafestival.org/
ipsmo@riseup.net
http://ipsmo.org

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Decolonizing Together is about listening to indigenous people, taking direction from them, sticking around in decolonizing movement, and discussing together what it means to be responsible allies to indigenous people and communities struggling for justice and decolonization.

We will start by learning from Jaime Koebel, a Metis artist and educator, about the often hidden indigenous history, art and culture in the city of Ottawa.

After we arrive at Victoria Island there will be an opening by a local Elder.

To open the solidarity assembly we will hear about the Algonquin history of the Ottawa River valley from Ardoch Algonquin elder and Queen’s University Professor, Robert Lovelace.  This will lead us into a collective discussion about what meaningful Indigenous Solidarity and Decolonization movement is, and how we can do it.

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Indigenous Walking Tour w/ Jaime Koebel: http://indigenouswalks.com/

“Indigenous Walks is an active, educational and fun way to learn about Indigenous Peoples’ experiences in Ottawa. This guided walk and talk provides a layer of knowledge of the Nation’s Capital through art, culture and history.”

Indigenous Solidarity Assembly w/ Robert Lovelace, Ardoch Algonquin Elder

We are honoured that Robert Lovelace will be with us to speak about the Algonquin history of the Ottawa valley.  The entire Ottawa river watershed is the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.  His words will begin a large group discussion on the nature of Indigenous Solidarity and Decolonization.

This small assembly is part of the lead up to the Peoples’ Social Forum happening from Aug. 21 – 24, and our plans to have an Indigenous Solidarity Movement Assembly during the forum.  It will involve a collective discussion about questions that are important to indigenous solidarity movement: What is Indigenous Solidarity and how do we do it effectively?  As settlers, what are our differing roles and responsibilities in decolonization movement?

Film Screening by Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival
www.asinabkafestival.org

Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
Director: Jeff Barnaby
Runtime: 88 min
Rating: 14A
Guided by the spirits of her departed mother and brother, an Aboriginal teenager plots revenge against a sadistic Indian Agent in this fiercely irreverent debut feature from Canadian director Jeff Barnaby.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feWS9simNFI&feature=kp

*Note Director Jeff Barnaby will be in attendance for a Q & A

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Accessibility Notes:

– These events are wheelchair accessible: Victoria Island is listed as BASIC ACCESSIBILITY. The main area is grass covered, and the site has an accessibility ramp. There is an accessible toilet.  If you require assistance, our volunteers can help you.
– Childcare will be available
– Contact us if you require bus tickets
– The movie has closed captioning/subtitles in English
– We are trying to secure ASL interpretation, updates about ASL to come
– Do not wear colognes, perfumes or other scented products as some people have severe allergies

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This event was co-organized by the Asinabka Film Festival and the Indigenous Peoples’ Solidarity Movement – Ottawa (IPSMO) and our partners: KAIROS, MiningWatch, Justice For Deepan, Independent Jewish Voices, No One Is Illegal – Ottawa, and the Peoples’ Social Forum.

Our partners:

KAIROS: http://www.kairoscanada.org/
MiningWatch: http://www.miningwatch.ca/
Independent Jewish Voices: http://ijvcanada.org/
Justice For Deepan: http://www.justicefordeepan.org/
Peoples’ Social Forum: http://www.peoplessocialforum.org/
No One Is Illegal – Ottawa: http://noii-ottawa.blogspot.ca/
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Asinabka Festival, July 23 – 29

The full schedule for this week long film festival will be available soon.

Currently in our 3rd year of programming, the mandate of the Asinabka Festival is to present an annual Indigenous film and media arts festival in the Nations Capital that allows independent artists – national, international, Indigenous, non-Indigenous – to share, present, and disseminate their work.

http://asinabkafestival.org

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The Solidarity Assembly and Asinabka Movie screening are happening on Victoria Island, in sight of the Chaudière falls.  The Chaudière falls are a deeply important cultural site for the Algonquin people.  They were negatively impacted by the Hydro Ring Dam that was built in 1908.  The current plans of Windmill Development Group to “develop” and gentrify the Domtar building currently on the Island is a step in the wrong direction. The Chaudière falls, like the whole Ottawa river watershed, are stolen Algonquin territory.  Both the natural beauty and the cultural significance are already marred by the Ring Dam and this will only be worsened by increased “development” on the Island.

Free The Chaudière Falls:

Before they were harnessed for industry, the Chaudière Falls were second only to Niagara, and many people considered them more interesting in their variety and setting. The main feature was the Big Kettle, where the waterfall came into almost a full circle. It’s a greater arc than Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls. Over millennia, the flow had worn the stone at the base into a great bowl. The water would swirl around and bubble up, and there would always be a mist. On a bright summer day, there would be at least one rainbow in it. Further towards the Quebec side was the Lost Chaudière, where the area was completely surrounded by stone. Much to the amazement of visitors, the water would flow in but wouldn’t come out again: It was travelling through an underground channel, reappearing further down the river.

Regarding William Commanda’s Legacy Vision for the Sacred Chaudiere Site:
https://ipsmo.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/william-commandas-vision-chaudiere/

Let the Chaudière fall – freely:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Chaudi%C3%A8re+fall+freely/9778425/story.html

Free The Falls by Albert Dumont:
http://albertdumont.com/free-the-falls/

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“Honour Your Word”

 
honour your word posterThoughts from Albert “South Wind” Dumont, who attended our Earth Day screening of Honour Your Word, the new documentary about the Algonquins of Barriere Lake:

 

The documentary “Honour Your Word” to me, is a call for Canada’s citizens to go on the march in defence of the sacredness Canadians claim to place on the threads which connect the hearts and souls of all the good people who populate this great land. Watch the film and if, after doing so, you are not motivated to help make things right in La Verendrye Park where justice has been drawn, quartered and burned at the stake, then you are as spiritless as the perpetrators of the human rights violations taking place there today. The Algonquins of Barriere Lake are standing alone against tyranny and oppression. They are a brave resourceful people living in Third World poverty whose plight is documented in a film produced and directed by Martha Stiegman.

Where is the mirror that would show Canadians what really is looking back at them when they peer into it? It does exist, but most of us (Canadians) will have to wait until death carries them to a new world to see it. The ugliness of their ways will be revealed and an accounting of some kind will surely come to pass at that time.

We, the First Peoples, live in a world where only the human rights violations directly impacting settlers or injustices being perpetrated against people in far off countries like China or the Middle East are worthy of Canadians’ support and sympathy. When human rights violations are occurring against the Aboriginal People of this land, Canadians turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to it. Canadians need to ask themselves why this is so. To me, the answer begins and ends with ‘greed’.

“Honour”, the real definition of that word does not exist in our Parliaments only because Canadians do not demand it as a trait alive and strong, in the men and women we send to the Red Chamber to represent us before the world and before God. We must ask ourselves how our children and their children will be impacted by our negligence of duty to them when we do such a thing. Surely we doom them (our children) to a world where dog eats dog, where the weak are spat upon and where peaceful protest is laughed at and ignored.

The film is interesting throughout but several powerful scenes stand out to me as highlights. One scene is particularly moving, it shows a young Barriere Lake Algonquin man standing before the camera telling about what is being lost of his beloved land when clear-cutting occurs. His words are strong and heartfelt, he is overcome with emotion and though weeping almost uncontrollably, he finishes his statement. I wept with him while sitting in the darkness of the theatre and cannot banish the scene from my mind. It will be my inspiration and motivation to get involved and help with this cause in whatever way the Algonquins ask of me.

One thing the film makes clear to me at least, is that the peaceful protest of the Algonquins up to this point, is nothing more than an exercise in pointless frustration. They protest peacefully to protect the trees and their way of life. Their leaders are thrown in jail when they do so. “Next time you will not be jailed for short periods of time but for years,” they are warned by the courts. Knowledge of such injustices and oppression makes my heart sick.

What is happening in La Verendrye Park is proof positive of just how racist a country Canada is. Only a people who are capable of raw, unadulterated hatred against a segment of the community not their own would allow what is happening to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake to occur in a country like Canada. God help us.

Keep the Circle Strong,
South Wind.

 

Albert Dumont, “South Wind”, is a Poet, Storyteller, Speaker, and an Algonquin Traditional Teacher. He was born and raised in traditional Algonquin territory (Kitigan Zibi). He has been walking the “Red Road” since commencing his sobriety in 1988. He has published four books of poetry and short stories and one children’s book, written in three languages. His website is www.albertdumont.com

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More on the film and the struggle of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake:

 

Action items:

HYW-poster-jpg
 
Resources for Barriere Lake:

 

More about the film:


 

 

 

April 22 – HONOUR YOUR WORD: Celebrating the Defense of Mother Earth!

 

Click image to print poster
Click image to print poster
Movie Screening and Fund Raiser for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake

With special guests: Barriere Lake community members including Norm Matchewan and Elder Michel Thusky, and (via Skype) filmmaker Martha Stiegman

Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30pm (doors 6pm)
at the Mayfair Theatre
1074 Bank St. (near Sunnyside)
Buses # 1 & 7 (Bank) or # 5 (Riverdale)

$5-15 suggested donation
(no one turned away for lack of funds)
Fundraiser for Barriere Lake: Click to donate

 

Honour Your Word is a new documentary film – an intimate portrait of life behind the barricades for the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, an inspiring First Nation whose dignity and courage contrast sharply with the political injustice they face.
 

Presented in Ottawa by the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa, with Diffusion Multi-Monde and co-sponsors MiningWatch Canada, OPIRG-Carleton, OPIRG/GRIPO-Ottawa and OSSTF District-25 Human Rights / Status of Women Committee.

 

Honour Your Word – trailer
 

 

9-minute interview with filmmaker Martha Stiegman, from CHUO 89.1FM radio show Click Here with host Mitchell Caplan:
 

 

Accessibility Notes:

  • The Mayfair Theatre has side entrances that are wheelchair accessible.
    The washrooms are not, but Shoppers Drug Mart (located next door) does have accessible washrooms.
  • Please refrain from wearing perfumes, colognes or other scented products
  • Please contact us if you require ASL/LSQ
  • Please contact us if you require bus tickets

Contact: ipsmo@riseup.net – www.ipsmo.org
 

Please help us promote this event!

 
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Celebrating the Defense of Mother Earth!

This movie screening of Honour Your Word is the IPSM Ottawa’s 3rd “Earth Day” event Celebrating the Defense of Mother Earth!

Last year we were honoured to work with Defenders of the Land and Land Defenders from Six Nations and we raised $1405 for the legal defense of activists from Six Nations, and in 2009 we organized our 1st event with Minwaashin Lodge, the Tungasuvvingat Inuit, and others.

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More about the movie – Honour Your Word (2013, 59min):

New Algonquin leaders are followed as their community fights to protect their land, their way of life and their language.

The title refers to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake’s campaign slogan demanding Canada and Quebec honour a precedent-setting conservation deal signed in 1991. Director Martha Stiegman spent four years shooting this poetic, heartfelt documentary that challenges stereotypes of “angry Indians.” Honour Your Word juxtaposes starkly contrasting landscapes—the majesty of the bush, a dramatic highway stand-off against a riot squad, daily life within the confines of the reserve—to reveal the spirit of a people for whom blockading has become a part of their way of life, a life rooted in the forest they are defending.

For more information:

 
 

Aug 14 – Film Screening of Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

What: Film Screening of Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

Where: Wednesday, August 14, 7PM

Where: 251 Bank Street, 2nd Floor (Octopus Books in Centretown)

—- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/162833223900286/

Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world’s first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the viewer “on the land” with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic.

Join the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO), Cinema Politica, and Octopus Books for a screening and discussion of “Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change). A member of IPSMO will facilitate a discussion after the film.

This event is “Pay What You Can (Nobody is turned away)”

More about the movie:
The impact of climate change in Canada is discussed by those at its front lines. In this historic documentary by the legendary Isuma Productions, Inuit people speak first-hand about how their landscape is changing, how the sky has turned colour and if the polar bear really is endangered. Their insight – borne from centuries of shared knowledge – reveals a deep intimacy with their environment and convincingly challenges mainstream media accounts of climate change. Unsettling accounts of new flora, thawing permafrost and dwindling ice point directly to the truth that climate change has become a human rights issue for many Indigenous people.

More about IPSMO:
IPSMO is a grassroots organization that directly supports indigenous peoples in diverse struggles for justice. We also work within communities to challenge the lies and half-truths about indigenous peoples and colonization that dominate Canadian society. The organization is open to both indigenous and non-indigenous people, and focuses on local and regional campaigns.

IPSMO website: http://www.ipsmo.org
Octopus Books website: http://octopusbooks.ca/
Cinema Politica website: http://www.cinemapolitica.org/film/inuit-knowledge-and-climate-change

 

Apr 22: Celebrating the Defence of Mother Earth – A Fundraiser for the Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund

Movies, Speakers, Music and Free Food!

Image credit: Jesse Purcell with the Just Seeds collective
Image credit: Jesse Purcell with the Just Seeds collective

Monday, April 22, 6:00 to Midnight
Rideau Curling Club, 715 Cooper Street, Ottawa

Facebook event link

Free – suggested donation $10 – $20
Wheelchair Accessible
Contact us about ASL/LSQ: ipsmo@riseup.net

Food will be provided by Food Not Bombs Ottawa, and there is a bar in the Curling Club

 

The IPSM is organizing a fundraiser for front-line land defenders from Six Nations this Earth Day!

All of the money raised will be going directly to the Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund.

 

The night will feature short movies, speakers and live music!

Short films:

  • Day Zero, about the Six Nations Land Reclamation
  • Rough Cut: Toad: Onkwehonwe Land Defender
  • the National Film Board film, Six Miles Deep (subtitled)

Speakers:

  • Francine “Flower” Doxtator
  • Tom Keefer

Live music:

  • True Rez, award winning hip-hop artists from Six Nations
  • Balam Santos

 
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In 2006, activists from Six Nations reclaimed a part of their territory, “Kanonhstaton” that was going to be developed by several construction companies who had, illegally, invested in Douglas Creek Estates. For most of the summer of 2006, the land reclamation was highly publicized. Since then, although it has not generated the same media attention, Haudenosaunee activists have continued to fight to protect their lands and waters. Due to this fight, the last six years have seen harsh criminalization of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders. Dozens of people have faced criminal charges and several have served substantial time in jail. In Brantford, an injunction was passed making it illegal for anyone from Six Nations to be involved in land claims protest within the city.

Several Six Nations activists have also been arrested and charged of serious criminal offences due to the actions of Gary McHale, a racist right-wing demagogue with ties to overt white supremacists. On February 18th several Six Nations land defenders were arrested for allegedly “obstructing” and “assaulting” OPP officers. That day anti-native rights activist, Gary McHale, marched onto Kanonstaton and succeeded yet again in instigating conflict by unexpectedly marching towards the house at Kanonhstaton and disturbing the Haudenosaunee people living there. Later, on April 28th, the police claimed that by being at Kanonhstaton on April 28th, Flower had breached conditions stemming from the charges on February 18th.

We must continue to build support for Six Nations land defenders and resist the actions of the colonial courts in criminalizing Six Nations land defenders. Flower is still not legally allowed to return to Kanonhstaton and in order to avoid jail she had to agree to live with her surety in Toronto – away from her home, her community and friends, her daughter, and her four grandchildren. All of us living on this land are treaty people, and we as treaty people must overcome such outrageous and heartbreaking violations of treaty and human rights by building support for our friends and allies at Six Nations.

In terms of a legal strategy, money is still urgently needed.

The April 28th Coalition is asking for your help to support Flower in a number of ways:

  • Pass a motion within your union or political organization denouncing this political repression of indigenous land rights activists.
  • Invite Flower and other members of the April 28th Coalition to come and speak to your group about her case and the larger issues of Six Nations land rights and activism in support of treaty rights.
  • Raise money to help cover the legal costs of appealing the court’s decision to ban Flower from Kanonhstaton.
  • Send money to help Flower cover the cost of replacing the glasses the police broke while arresting her and to aid with her living costs while she is in Toronto.
  • Come to Flower’s next court appearance at 2pm on June 26th in Cayuga, Ontario.
  • Get involved in the April 28th Coalition.

Email april28info@gmail.com to get in touch with us and tell us how you can help with any of these matters. Cheques can be made payable to “First Nations Solidarity Working Group” and mailed c/o Laura Lepper to 193 Tansley Rd., Thornhill, ON, L4J 2Y8. You can also donate money via credit card or paypal by clicking on the “donate” button at the http://www.april28.net/ website.

For more information about the legal defence fund: http://april28coalition.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/support-flower-stop-the-criminalization-of-six-nations-land-defenders/

For a preview of Six Miles Deep: http://www.nfb.ca/film/six_miles_deep/clip/six_miles_deep_clip_1

 

Grassy Narrows Blockade – 10 years in resistance (Ottawa solidarity event Dec 5th)

click image to print poster

December 2nd, 2002 is the date when the courageous indigenous people of Grassy Narrows Ontario decided to halt further clear cutting of their forests.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the ongoing blockade, we are holding a film-screening and follow-up talk in solidarity.

7:00PM Wednesday December 5th

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences Building, 4th Floor, Room 4006

(FSS building on map: http://uottawa.ca/maps)

Video “As Long as the Rivers Flow – The Grassy Narrows Blockade Story” by David Clement and Thunder Bay Indymedia
*preview:

There will be questions and discussions afterward with Craig Benjamin of Amnesty International. Craig has spent some time at Grassy Narrows.

Event hosted by IPSMO (Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa) and Amnesty International.

— print poster (pdf, 8.5×11)

Nov30 (film) 3rd World Canada – Ottawa premiere

Ottawa Premiere of the documentary film:
3rd World Canada

Tuesday Nov. 30th, 2010
at the National Arts Centre
Public Screening & Panel discussion: 7:30 P.M.

Tickets: $18.00
Paypal online or reserve & pay at the door
http://thirdworldcanada.ca/order
andree@andreecazabon.ca, (613) 755-5315
RSVP strongly recommended
(Toronto event at the ROM was sold out)

Engage with National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, Participants in the film from remote Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (K.I.), and Gemini-nominee local filmmaker, Andrée Cazabon

An invitation to all Canadians to support the reconciliation movement and close the gap in standards of living

Parts of proceeds to go to:
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and ONEXONE breakfast program

Through intimate testimonies, ‘Third World Canada’ reveals an impoverished First Nations community and its struggles to care for eight children left behind by their parents’ suicides.

www.thirdworldcanada.ca

SEE THE FILM AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE