In the News:
How Do You Cancel a Pipeline?

June 2021

Eriel Deranger, Executive Director of ICA (left) and Melina Laboucan-Massimo, podcast interviewee and Director of Healing Justice at ICA (right) at a protest

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TRANSCRIPT

Episode description

How do you cancel a pipeline? In this episode we speak to two Indigenous activists who have been campaigning against the extraction industry for years from the frontlines to the UN: Melina Laboucan-Massimo and Dallas Goldtooth.

About Melina Laboucan-Massimo

Melina Laboucan-Massimo (she/her) is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta, Canada. She is the founder of Sacred Earth Solar and the Campaign Director at Indigenous Climate Action. She has worked on social, environmental and climate justice issues for over 15 years. Melina has worked, studied and campaigned in Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada and across Europe focusing on resource extraction, climate change impacts, media literacy, energy literacy and Indigenous rights & responsibilities.

Melina is the host a new TV series called Power to the People which documents renewable energy, food security and eco-housing in Indigenous communities across North America. She is also a Fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation with a focus is on Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge and Renewable Energy. Facing the firsthand impacts of the Alberta tar sands in her home community, Melina has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. For over a decade, Melina worked as a Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network. She has written for a variety of publications and produced short documentaries on the tar sands, climate change, water issues and Indigenous cultural revitalization.

Melina holds a Masters degree in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria with a focus on Renewable Energy in Indigenous communities. As a part of her Masters thesis, Melina completed a 20.8 kW solar installation in her home community of Little Buffalo in the heart of the tar sands which powers the health centre. She has also worked to solarize the Tiny House Warriors and continues to build more solar projects in Indigenous communities. Melina also works on the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women after the suspicious death of her sister Bella, whose case still remains unsolved.

She currently serves on the boards of NDN Collective and Seeding Sovereignty. She also sits on the Advisory Council for the Indigenous Clean Energy Social Enterprise.

Connect to Melina

Instagram: @melina_miyowapan

Twitter: @Melina_MLM

Connect to Sacred Earth Solar

Website: SacredEarth.Solar

Twitter: @SacredEarthSOL

About Dallas Goldtooth

(Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine) Dallas travels extensively across Turtle Island to help fossil fuel and hard rock mining impacted communities tell their stories thru social media, video, and other forms of communication. Dallas is an IEN media team lead, working with IEN staff, board, and organizational partners from a diverse group of climate justice networks. Along with his many tasks and duties with IEN, he is also a Dakota cultural/language teacher, non-violent direct action trainer, and was one of the outstanding Water Protectors at Standing Rock/Oceti Sakowin Camp fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline. In addition, he is a co-founder of the Indigenous comedy group, The 1491s, a poet, journalist, traditional artist, powwow emcee, and comedian.

Connect to Dallas

Facebook: Dallas Goldtooth

Twitter: @DallasGoldtooth

Instagram: @DallasGoldtooth

Connect to Indigenous Environmental Network

Website: ienearth.org

Facebook: @ienearth

Twitter: @IENearth

Instagram: @IndigenousRising

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgNX7Lf6T8g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa_VJnPGpVQ