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By rejecting $1bn for pipeline, a First Nation put Trudeau climate plan on trial
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on March 20th, 2016
Guardian: Everything has a price. Everyone can be bought. We assume this principle is endemic to modern life -- and that accepting it is most obvious to the impoverished. Except all over the world, people are defying it for a greater cause. That courage may be even more contagious.
It has been in full supply in north-west Canada, where an oil giant is aiming to construct one of country’s biggest fossil fuel developments: a pipeline to ship liquified natural gas (LNG) out of British Colombia. To export it...
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Indigenous activists take to Seine river to protest axing of rights from Paris climate pact
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on December 7th, 2015
Guardian: Indigenous groups from across the world staged a paddle down the Seine river in Paris on Sunday, calling on governments to ensure Indigenous rights are included in the United Nations climate pact currently being negotiated in France.
The United States, the EU, Australia and other states have pushed for Indigenous rights to be dropped from the binding parts of the agreement out of fear that it could create legal liabilities.
Indigenous representatives from North and South America, Indonesia...
Trudeau’s bold change pledge was a ruse. But Canada now a fighting chance
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on October 22nd, 2015
Guardian: On Monday night many Canadians breathed out a sigh of relief. Then they breathed in a whiff of apprehension. The ousting of the Conservatives was a victory, a rejection of Stephen Harper’s politics of fear and outright hatred. But Canadians now confront a Prime Minister gifted in the art of warm, fuzzy claptrap. They won’t be offered what they dreamed of: that was never an option in this election.
The election’s most revealing poll was scarcely reported by the media. Those voting against Harper...
Canadian Govn’t Spends Millions to Covertly Promote Oil Sands
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on August 12th, 2015
Guardian: Canada’s Conservative government spent several million dollars on a tar sands advocacy fund as its push to export the oil faltered, documents reveal.
In its 2013 budget, the government invested $30 million over two years on public relations advertising and domestic and international “outreach activities” to promote Alberta’s tar sands.
The outreach activities, which cost $4.5 million and were never publicly disclosed, included efforts to “advance energy literacy amongst BC First Nations communities.”...
Detroit’s Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on June 25th, 2014
Guardian: It was six in the morning when city contractors showed up unannounced at Charity Hicks' house.
Since spring, up to 3000 Detroit households per week have been getting their water shut-off – for owing as little as $150 or two months in bills. Now it was the turn of Charity's block – and the contractor wouldn't stand to wait an hour for her pregnant neighbour to fill up some jugs.
"Where's your water termination notice?" Charity demanded, after staggering to the contractor's truck. A widely-respected...
Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada’s resource agenda, documents reveal
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on March 4th, 2014
Guardian: The Canadian government is increasingly worried that the growing clout of aboriginal peoples’ rights could obstruct its aggressive resource development plans, documents reveal.
Since 2008, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has run a risk management program to evaluate and respond to “significant risks” to its agenda, including assertions of treaty rights, the rising expectations of aboriginal peoples, and new legal precedents at odds with the government’s policies.
Yearly government reports...
New Brunswick fracking protests are the frontline of democratic fight
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on October 21st, 2013
Guardian: The image of burning police cars played endlessly on the evening news. Television and talk radio blared out reports of "clashes" between police and indigenous protestors. Last Thursday in New Brunswick near the Elsipogtog First Nation, we were told the government had enforced an injunction against a blockade of a US shale gas company. There was nothing about the roots of a conflict years in the making. An appeal to the stereotype of indigenous violence was enough: once again, the natives were breaking...