Saturday April 11, 2015
Doors at 6:30; Starts at 7 PM
Grandview Calvary Baptist Church: 1803 E 1st Ave, Vancouver
Join us for an evening of dessert, speakers and entertainment to fundraise and show solidarity with the members of the Dene Nation, who are protecting their traditional territory from uranium and tar sands mining near La Loche, Saskatchewan. Dene and Metis trappers have set up a checkpoint on Hwy 955 in Treaty 8 territory, to keep Cenovus, Fission Uranium Corp, and many others out. Brian Grandbois, from Dene Nation, will be here to share about his Nation’s resistance.
The Northern Trappers Alliance (NTA) initially erected their camp on November 19th 2014. On November 22nd they went a step further and establ…ished a checkpoint on the highway to prevent further resource exploration that was causing irreparable damage to their way of life. On December 1st 2014 the RCMP moved in, enforcing an injunction against the trappers and forced them off the road under threat of imprisonment. Undeterred, members of the Northern Trappers Alliance have remained encamped next to the highway ever since.
The NTA established their camp in response to unchecked resource exploration and a lack of meaningful consultation with the Dene people who live on and are provided for by the land. The Northern Trappers have found roads to traditional hunting grounds gated and blocked, preventing them from entering. This has been done without their consent or knowledge: a violation of Treaty. At the end of January a “Big Meeting” was called by the NTA. Although invited, no representative from the Saskatchewan provincial government, or any other level of the colonial government showed up. At this meeting it was decided to stand firm against the oil and mining companies.
The Northern Trappers Alliance are a group Dene and Metis indigenous people. They have experienced first hand the devastating impacts uranium mining, oil and gas development has on the land. It can no longer sustain their way of life as it has done for centuries. They have seen how the promises of “economic development and a better life” from resource extraction companies is a smoke screen used to steal their land and leave it desolate. The land is theirs and they have never given it up. The Dene Nation have asserted their traditional sovereignty and guardianship over the land, are saying NO to uranium mining and tar sands mining and protecting the land which provides and sustains them They are on the front lines fighting against environmental catastrophe and the corrupt system profiting from it!
The needs are for food and supplies to sustain the camp.
Speakers Include: Brian Grandbois of Dene Nation, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Audrey Siegl of Musqueam Nation … more to follow!
**This event is being held on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people including the x?m??kw?y??m (Musqueam), S?wx?wú7mesh (Squamish) and S?l?ílw?ta? (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.**
Doors at 6:30, event begins at 7:00 pm. Suggested donation $10, no one turned away.
Childcare Provided on Site
ASL provided thanks to the generous donation of time of the Douglas College Student Interpreter program.
Accessibility Info: Grandview Calvary Baptist Church’s kitchen’s entrance is at street level, which gives access to washrooms, kitchen and lower hall. One washroom has a stall that can accommodate a wheelchair. The washroom door opening is 86 cm, and the stall door is 61 cm.
Scent-Reduced Space: To help make this a safer space for those in our communities who have chemical sensitivities or allergies, please refrain from wearing perfume and other scented-body products.
