Weekly Round-Up, December 17 2021
A lot has been happening lately across Turtle Island. We know it can be hard to keep up, so we’ve compiled a list of news, events, and big stories related to Indigeneity and the climate crisis.
Check it out, and be sure to share with your friends, family, and community!
WATCH:
Solarizing Nimkii Aazhbikong - A Video Series celebrating Energy Sovereignty!
Showcasing Indigenous support systems, Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) and Sacred Earth Solar (SES) have partnered to help fund Onaman Collective’s new sixty-foot land based art studio for youth in Robinson Huron Treaty Territory. The Onaman Collective, lead by Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch, promotes grassroots land-based art initiatives sharing traditional knowledge and language with youth.
Read the blog & watch the videos!
NEWS:
Release of toxic tar sand tailings cannot be approved without consent from downstream Indigenous Nations
December 17, 2021
“Tailings ponds are large human-made reservoirs that hold the toxic by-products from oil & gas extraction. Tailings ponds contain harmful chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, and naphthenic acids, all of which pose a risk to the Athabasca River, the wildlife it hosts and the communities that depend on it. Releasing tailings into the Athabasca watershed is not a safe or just option for solving Alberta’s growing tailings crisis. It is a handout to oil companies that allows them to avoid reclamation costs.”
Akiing Onji: a charity dedicated to preserving Indigenous languages
December 17, 2021
Today was the official launch of Akiing Onji — an Indigenous-led charity to promote and preserve Indigenous languages and cultures through culturally appropriate education programs, workshops, training, and activities for the Indigenous community in Manitoba. Please consider donating to support our efforts to promote and preserve Indigenous languages!
140 Organizations Call on Senate to Remove Dirty Energy Subsidies from the Build Back Better Act
December 15, 2021
From IEN: 140 organizations sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, urging them to remove a slew of expenditures and tax subsidies in the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376) that would incentivize dirty energy sources and technologies that will harm communities and prolong a fossil fuel-based economy.
NDN Collective awarded $50 million grant to redistribute to Indigenous communities in Minnesota, S. Dakota & N. Dakota
December 14, 2021
From NDN: NDN Collective selected as one of two organizations to receive the award. For the past three years, NDN Collective has redistributed funds to Indigenous communities throughout Turtle Island, issuing $12 million in grants last year.
The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world
December 14, 2021
From Science.org: It’s almost a mantra in climate science: The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. But that figure, found in scientific studies, advocacy reports, the popular press, and even the 2021 U.N. climate assessment, is incorrect, obscuring the true toll of global warming on the north, a team of climate scientists reports this week.
A ‘momentous occasion’: UBC, Tŝilhqot’in sign Memorandum of Understanding
Dec. 9, 2021
From the Ubyessy: “The history of colonization and the erosion of Indigenous ways of life were at the core of yesterday’s discussion. Pamela Barnes, a knowledge keeper from the Westbank First Nation, reminded all the attendees that the “lands which we stay on are made up with the blood and bones of our people'' and that the sharing of said land was only a recent phenomenon in the history of First Nations in Canada.”
This is what it means to decolonize climate policy
December 7, 2021
From MIC.com: The organizers of Indigenous Climate Action are tired of proposed solutions that don’t actually solve anything.
B.C. greenlit more Mounties on Wet’suwet’en territory before 3rd raid
December 2, 2021
From APTN: The British Columbia government authorized an RCMP request for increased police presence on Wet’suwet’en territory to crack down on pipeline resistance for the third straight year, according to the Mountie who planned the operation. As catastrophic floods and mudslides ravaged other parts of the province, an RCMP tactical unit equipped with choppers, snipers, assault rifles and dogs spent two days dismantling blockades erected to assert Wet’suwet’en title and oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Indigenous voices needed to save planet from climate change, says young Garden River activist
November 26, 2021
ICA’s Jayce Chiblow discusses COP26: “We’re the land stewards and we’ve been doing this for so long. We’ve lived through climate change in our territories already. All of the solutions should be Indigenous-led and Indigenous created,” she said.”
ACTIONS TO TAKE:
Please consider donating this holiday season to help us support Indigenous-led movements, mental wellness of Indigenous youth, and Indigenous climate action across so-called Canada.
International Week of Action week of December 20th 2021
From YINTAH ACCESS: We are calling on our supporters and allies to join us to turn our outrage towards RBC once again! Their lack of accountability in financing Colonial Violence and land theft from Indigenous People is unacceptable. We are all in this together and we all have a responsibility to stand up to big financial institutions that invest and keep the fossil fuel industry going full force. With no green sustainability transition in the foreseeable future, all of humanity and our kin are at dangerous risk. With the fires and floods that happened recently south of so-called British Columbia we can’t let anymore time pass while big banks are fuelling our demise.
RSVP: WEBINAR—INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE ACTION
January 12, 2022
Please join RAVEN for the second of a four-part webinar series in which Indigenous climate action leaders in BC share their thoughts and experience, hosted by the West Coast Climate Action Network and RAVEN.
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In solidarity,
The ICA Team